Midnight Blue
by Enalton418
Summary: The year is 1998, Dracula has returned. A team of vampire hunters discover a young woman sleeping under the castle. The secrets to her past may be the key to destroying the Dark Lord once and for all. A prequel to Castlevania: Aria of Sorrow.
1. Origins

**Welcome to Midnight Blue!**

 **This story seeks to combine the events of "Castlevania 64" with those in "Aria of Sorrow". The Type Moon universe provides a perfect bridge to answer the question: How did Dracula's castle migrate to Japan?**

 **Never heard of Castlevania or Tsukihime? No worries. Readers need not be familiar with either series to understand what's going on.** **  
**

 **P.S. The M rating is for language and dark themes.**

* * *

Fire danced from the barrel of Ciel's firearm as she shot at the horde of zombies inching their way towards her. "Curse these things" she muttered as she changed the clip in her FAMAS assault rifle "Weak as hell yet still a pain in my ass." These zombies were scarcely deserving of the title. True zombies were undead wreaths controlled by a necromancer, they were strong, agile, and insensibly brutal. These pawns were merely responding to the power of Dracula's castle and lacked any form of discipline whatsoever.

 _BANG_ Ciel shot the last zombie right between the eyes. "Sigh, where did that moron run off to anyway?" Julius, a vampire hunter and heir to the Belmont clan. They had come here together until the guy stumbled upon a trap door and got himself lost. Julius was the one trying to investigate the castles sudden reappearance, Ciel was only here to kill vampires. "Yet here I am, no Julius, no vampires, just a big-ass castle of infinite re-spawning infidels." She tried to drift her thoughts away from the irony that she herself was an infinite re-spawning infidel. "Screw fate" she thought to herself.

Another horde of zombies began approaching from the corridor ahead. Not wanting to waste any more ammo on such minor opponents, Ciel turns left and walks inside one of the many doors lining the hallway. She finds herself in a large room with red brick making up the walls, floor, and ceiling. There's a lot of rocks scattered about the floor, but besides a few clumps of moss there didn't appear to be anything living inside. Ciel knew better then to judge such simplicity at a mere glance, this _was_ Dracula's castle after all. She walks towards the center of the room and pulls out her notebook. A simple inscription should reveal any hidden passageways that lie within.

 _click_ There's a small noise coming from behind her. Ciel stops writing and glances beyond her parchment. Still empty. "There's nothing in here" she says out loud and continues what she was doing. She stops again when something bumps into the heel of her boot. She bends down and picks up a small grey pebble resting alongside it. Then across the floor she notices a horde of similar pebbles gathering together in a heap towards the room's edge.

Ciel jumps back, raising her FAMAS to examine the creature before her. The structure begins to take on a human-like shape as more and more pebbles gather into it. Bursts of light bounce between the walls as Ciel empties her clip into the mysterious beast, but to no avail. The mound of metal now stood enormous, dwarfing the room. Standing upright, the creature looks down at her with gleaming yellow eyes. Demonic eyes.

Ciel retreats to the door she came in from to find it locked. "DAMMIT" she shouts as she tries, and fails, to kick down the iron door. That creature was an iron golem. She had never encountered one herself but the ancient database within her shattered soul radiated with information on it. Their defenses were impenetrable and the only way to destroy them was by disrupting the magical network which bound them together. Ciel hated relying upon Roa's memories. Useful though they may be, they served as a dooming reminder of her past.

The fully formed iron golem crosses the room's diameter in a single step and pulls its arms back in preparation for attack. Ciel quickly dives beneath its legs just as the creature pounds the ground where she was standing. The room shakes with such might Ciel almost loses her balance. Chunks of brick fly about the room as the golem turns around, his arms scrapping the sides of the room as he does so. Powerful though they may be, golems were known to be relatively slow creatures. Ciel's agility was nearly on par with that of a vampire. A creature such as this shouldn't pose much trouble. Blue lightning erupts from Ciel's hands which completely engulf the monster. But the iron golem brings his fists down again anyway, completely unaffected.

"You just can't make this easy can you?" Ciel complains as she side steps her enemies attack. An opponent like this would require an especially strong burst of mana if she were to disrupt all its circuitry at once; and that would require time. The creature throws punch after punch after the inquisitor. The creature's barbaric movements flow right past her slamming into the wall in the back of the room again and again. "You're more interesting than those corpses out there I'll give you that much." The golem howls in agony and pulls its body back in preparation for attack. "But it's about time we wrap things up" Ciel mutters as she holds her hands up to deliver the killing blow.

 _CRACK_ Ciel scarcely leaps aside as the creature breaks the wall behind her with extraordinary force. "Wha-"Ciel's voice is cut off when the golems other arm sweeps across the floor and picks her up. The creature was moving much faster now and Ciel was literally in a bind. The monster holds her in mid-air as she struggles to escape his stone grip. Its mouth opens as it brings her in for the kill. Ciel's circuits glow with a lethal buildup of magical energy yet she is unable to position her arms away from herself to fire the blast. "You think I'm scared of you don't you?" Ciel speaks to the expressionless giant holding her captive. In a barely audible voice she retorts, "You're dead wrong" and lets the mana explode from her body.

Shrapnel of brick, rock, and human organs spray across the room in a grand explosion. The blast came so quick that Ciel hardly felt any pain as her body was ripped to shreds. "Aiya" she exclaimed. Gruesome as it may be this circumstance actually worked to her favor. She was an exception, a miracle upon the world and death was nothing to her. So long as the vampire Roa lived, she could never be killed. "Haven't you heard golem? I don't die when I'm killed" she spat sarcastically as she dusted the rumble from her dress. Its then that she noticed the damage the battle had caused. The once simple square room appeared dented and warped. Chunks of brick were missing the walls which were now littered with chunks of iron and blood. Most surprising of all was the gigantic hole lying in the back. Ciel takes a few steps forward and peeks into the opening.

The walls of the cavern were colored of natural brown stone. In fact the passageway didn't appear man made at all. "This must be the cave network Julius spoke of." Ciel inquired. She took notice of a pair of stalagmites which confirmed her hypothesis. The caves weren't technically a part of Dracula's castle though the continual presence of monsters above leaked a lot of dark energy into the earth. Julius could very well be waiting somewhere in these caverns, depending on how great the Belmont's fall was. She wouldn't put it past Dracula to lay a trap like that. A fall that deep would kill any ordinary human. "Anything's better than going back to those zombies again." Ciel thinks to herself as she takes her first steps downward.

* * *

Ciel pulls an electric flashlight from her magical storage and clicks it on. The tunnels were vast with more twists and turns than she could count. Water trickles down the edges and dripped from the ceiling. But the greatest detail of all was "No monsters" Ciel says. There wasn't just a lack of monsters, there wasn't a living thing of any kind.

"It must take time for Dracula's minions to make their way down here." Ciel thought to herself. It wasn't an unreasonable assumption. The castle had only just appeared a week ago. The church had immediately dispatched her to keep the surrounding area quiet so as to prevent panic. The mages association also had an agent in the area to ensure knowledge of Dracula's power didn't seep into the public. Dracula himself hasn't manifested in over a hundred years. Like Roa, the Dark Lord was an immortal of some sort in that he would be reincarnated upon death. Dracula's cycle was a bit more complicated however in that he brought a legion of dark forces back with him. His castle also followed this cycle; breaking down upon his death, and apparently reappearing wherever the hell it wanted.

The entire subject of Dracula has long since been a source of conflict between the Church and the mages association. The Church views vampires to be the ultimate symbol of heresy and seeks to destroy them at all cost. It's this reason alone that drove Ciel to ally herself with the Church's Burial Agency, a division specifically tasked with hunting down vampires. The Mages on the other hand couldn't care less which magical entities exist so long as they remained in secret. The Belmont's, including Julius, were a family that dedicated themselves to the destruction of the Count. It wasn't uncommon for the Church to ally themselves with the Belmont's, though the mages association often looked towards the Church to clean up any mess left in Dracula's aftermath. Hence the conflict of interests.

This time things _should_ be different. The last time Dracula returned he broke the usual reincarnation cycle and nearly destroyed the entire continent. His death was ultimately prevented but not without a wide score of consequences. The mages should know better now. "Should, that's a funny word." Ciel thought. The mages could be _incredibly_ stubborn.

A change in the cavern broke Ciel's train of thought. Much of the walk so far had been filled with the same dull brownish grey scenery, but the cavern ahead reflected the light from her flashlight like a beacon. Crystals, of red, green, blue and violet lined the walls. The rocky path became as smooth as glass and reflected a sheen array of colors like oil glancing off the water's surface.

"Amazing" Ciel gasped. "Who would guess something so beautiful would lie underneath that wretched castle". The passageway was small and exclusive. None of the surrounding tunnels had anything close to resembling this. The further she walked the larger the crystals grew until some of them began to grow into the walkway ahead. Ciel stepped around an especially large emerald crystal which grew up to just past her waist. Its shades swirling in an assortment that made it appear as though the crystal were radiating a light of its own. Then the cavern opened into a dome several times the size of the brick room Ciel was in just hours before. The chamber was brightly lit, confirming Ciel's earlier observation that the crystals were indeed radiating their own light. The room was completely covered in crystalline structures, small and large. Ciel flicked off her flashlight which hardly put a dent in the amount of light these crystals put off.

Towards the back of the chamber was an enormous cluster of crystals which branch outwards from one another. Taking care to step around the smaller formations on the floor, Ciel moves closer to examine the structure. The crystals on this formation seemed different from the other ones. They didn't radiate light and their colors were completely pure, almost monotone. Upon closer inspection Ciel notices that the crystals aren't colorful at all, they're transparent. Deep inside, Ciel could make out the structure of something _unnatural_. Whatever it was it bent at perfect ninety degree angles and had a lined precision which shouldn't be possible in the natural world. Ciel places her hands on the glass and immediately feels a release of aura from deep within. "Magical energy?" Ciel says, puzzled. As if responding to her thoughts, the crystal structure suddenly cracks.

"Yikes!" Ciel jumped back. A large crevice split the crystal right down the middle. Numerous smaller cracks branched off of it growing larger as they spread across the surface like a cancer. Then all at once the entire formation shattered. Ciel jumped back and shielded her eyes from the blast. Shards of glass littered the floor around the once wonderful crystalline structure. In its place was a slab of stone, sleeping on top of it was a woman with sky blue hair. The woman appeared to be in her late teens. She wore a jet black dress with red lining along the seams and black combat boots similar to the ones Ciel herself was wearing. Along her waist was a leather belt with a small pouch hanging on its side. All of the material appeared handmaid and Ciel guessed that this woman was not from this time period at all. "How long have you been sleeping here?" she asked out loud, "What" came a response. "Eeek" Ciel was taken aback not expecting the girl to answer. The girl opened her brilliant red eyes and sat up to look at the intruder. "Who are you?" she asked.

Ciel stared at the girl dumbfounded for a few seconds before responding, "Well this is a first. I should be asking you the same question cave girl."

"Who am I?"

"Obviously. Or you can start by telling me _what_ you are."

The woman looked down at the ground and didn't respond.

"Are you shy or something? This is weird for me too you don't have to be so….." what's the word she was looking for.

"I'm human. And my names Carrie, though I don't know much more than that."

"You don't know? What do mean you don't know?"

Carrie's expression grew grim and she kept silently staring at the floor.

 _Sigh_ "Amnesia huh? That's a disappointment. You certainly know how to make an entrance Carrie"

"Do you think so?" Carrie responded as she glanced around the room, seemingly for the first time.

"My names Ciel, I'm a vampire hunter with the Burial Agency. You've heard of the Roman Catholic Church?"

Carrie nodded.

"Ok good, you're coming with me then"

"Where are we going?"

Ciel pondered that for a moment. She really didn't want to spend any more time inside this castle though it would be a bad idea to leave without Julius.

"First we need to find a friend, do you know your way around the castle?"

"Castle?" Carrie returned, equally confused.

"Never mind" Ciel shrugged. "Just follow me"

* * *

Carrie obediently followed the woman in blue. She couldn't remember much about herself nor her past though she had a general idea of what was going on. Everything she did relied upon an intuition of sorts, she couldn't explain it but it worked. For example: she had no recollection of what the Roman Catholic Church was, though that name gave off a positive vibe. She felt she could trust Ciel, but had the impression she wasn't on good terms with the church. Why was that?

"….so in short the Church is religious body that worships God and promotes the common good of man." Ciel continued. She had been talking for the last hour or so. Carrie knew this was important but this person was starting to bore her with the endless talk. The Eucharist, baptism, psalms they all felt familiar but Carrie honestly had no clue what she was talking about.

"….and that brings us to the most important part about Easter celebrations. The eggs."

"Um miss Ciel" Carrie interrupted.

"Yes, are you paying attention? I was just getting to-"

"Could you be quiet for a moment?"

Ciel looked as though she'd seen a ghost. "You don't want another lesson? I thought you'd lost your memory."

"I have, but this is not necessary for me to know is it not?"

"What are you a heretic or something?"

Carrie's expression darkened at the word _heretic_.

"That explains it then, perhaps you're a witch Carrie. That'd explain a lot actually, which brings me to another point…"

This woman sure can talk.

Suddenly, Ciel held out her arm to stop Carrie from walking forward. She had a very serious expression as she stared at the pathway ahead.

"So you ARE good for something, about time." Ciel says.

"What's going on?" Carrie responds.

"Zombies, and a lot of them. I could feel their energy a mile away."

Carrie stared at Ciel awaiting an explanation.

"Zombie, a creature of the undead they are created by….." Ciel stopped herself short and instead continued, "They're monsters, but they will guide us back to where we need to go."

Carrie smiled. Pleased with the response the two began walking forward again. Ciel lead her through the passage ways like clockwork, reading the zombie energy trail like a map. Soon they came to a modern looking door and stepped inside. It is a much more elegant looking room than the corridor Ciel ventured through before. The hallway looked like something from a Victorian mansion. Windows lined the east side, each accompanied by a brilliant pair of regal curtains. At the far end was a horde of zombies and running towards them was a young man in a brown trench coat.

"Seriously Julius, what have you gotten yourself into this time?" Ciel said as she pulled out her assault rifle and began firing at the zombies. A terrified looking Julius ducking underneath the swarm of bullets as he continues running towards them. Ciel's ace marksmanship knocked out all traces of the undead before Julius could catch up to them.

As the man approached Carrie suddenly felt lightheaded. Something about this place felt wrong. _Very_ wrong. It was as if the air was being sucked from her lungs.

"Watch where you're pointing that damn thing!" Julius yelled, panting from exhaustion.

"Don't question me Julius, it's _you_ I'm worried about." Ciel rebutted.

"I had everything under control"

"Obviously"

"Anyways" Julius responded, making an obvious attempt to change the subject, "Who's the girl?"

"Don't know, found her lying in a cave."

"And you just _brought_ her here?!" Julius said with a touch of anger in his voice.

Carrie was not taking a liking to this man. He stood a full foot taller than Ciel and had a domineering poster about him. But it wasn't his masculine stature that annoyed her, it was the arrogance that so clearly radiated from it. Homies, zombinies, or whatever those things were, they didn't look very strong. Why was he running away? Then there was this wooziness. As the man walked closer towards her it noticeably grew worse.

"This man's making me sick." Carrie said bluntly

"Great find Ciel." Julius commented

"She's a witch Belmont, you're whips aggravating her cut it out." Ciel then grabbed him by the collar and pulled him back.

"She's a witch huh? And how are you so sure we can trust her?" Julius says.

"Her names Carrie, and she's lost her memory." Ciel said.

Julius looked Carrie straight in the eyes and says, "Hello Carrie, my names Julius Belmont. Do you know what that means?"

Carrie nodded.

"Really?" Ciel inquired, "How so?"

"I'm not sure" Carrie said, "Though the name…."

A wave of images suddenly flood through her head. _There's a man with short red hair sitting next to me by a campfire. A whip at his side. He stares blankly into the fire as if he carried the weight of the entire world on his shoulders. Carrie peers closely to ask him "Did you save my life?" The man looks up and the vision fades._

"What? Save your life? I dunno, I guess we did young lady hahaha" Julius bellows.

Carrie looks up at him, noticing striking similarities between the two. "Reinhardt" she says

"Reinhardt?" Julius repeats, surprised. "Now that _is_ interesting" he continues and folds his whip back onto his side. Carrie's dizziness immediately dissolves upon doing so.

"No you're not Reinhardt. He's someone I used to know. He looked like to you." Carrie inquired

"He should, he was a Belmont back in the day. He's the one who defeated Dracula during the great scourge. But what troubles me is…"

"That was over a hundred years ago" Ciel finishes for him.

"Interesting indeed" Julius ponders.

"That doesn't surprise me" Carrie adds, "I'm actually surprised it hasn't been longer"

"It's unexpected, but I'd say we've found the clue we were searching for." Julius says, rubbing his chin as though he had a beard.

"If she's a witch then she falls within the jurisdiction of the Mage's Association." Ciel comments, "Which means the church was right all along."

"Perhaps" Julius continues, "But we won't find anything standing around here." And with that he turns around and begins walking down the hallway he came from.

Carrie pulls Ciel close and whispers in her ear, "Are you sure about this guy?"

"Oh don't worry, he's a professional. One of the best fighters I've ever met and _that's_ saying something." Ciel reassured her. "Bit of a scardy cat at times though"

"Maybe that's it." Carrie says.

* * *

Julius kept a steady pace twenty feet or so ahead of Carrie and Ciel. Occasionally a bat or a ghost would swoop down after them to which the young Belmont quickly disposed of with his whip. Carrie hated it when he did, the queasiness in her stomach was getting old.

"You're not sick" Ciel spoke.

"I know" Carrie blankly responded.

"I know I know I know" Ciel mocked. "You keep saying that even though you haven't a clue."

"I do though, it's hard to explain."

"It's because you're a witch, the Belmont's whip is named Vampire Killer. There's nothing like it in all the world. It's a device that-"

"Cancels magic" Carrie finished. "I remember now."

"Oh really?" Ciel asked.

"I can remember a lot of things now, the farm, my village, childhood friends, my father. It's all coming back, like it was never lost to begin with."

"What about your mother?" Ciel further questioned

"Huh?" Carrie says

"You said you remember your father but you didn't mention anything about your mother. What happened to her?"

"She died"

"Oh" Ciel responded, her thoughts drifting back to her own family. "You know, it could have been worse."

"I'm not so sure" Carrie responded. "There's still a lot that's missing. This castle is feeling more and more familiar to me. I don't think that's a good thing. Perhaps it is best I do not remember the details."

"Well in that case I envy of you"

"Envy?" Carrie says puzzled.

"Yeah envy. You see when I was your age I…" Ciel's sentence trailed off. "Now that I think of it how old are you Carrie? If you remember that is."

"19" she responded. "What year is it?"

"1998" Ciel answered, "I think you're a little older than 19" both her and Carrie break into laughter.

"It feels so good to laugh, thank you Ciel." Carrie says as if it's nothing and continues marching ahead. That statement worried Ciel though. She knew that expression, that laughter intended as an escape to pretend everything was all right. "What wounds you must carry" Ciel thought to herself, ignoring the pun she just made.

They turned a corner into a larger hallway. The ceiling expanded, with a long red carpet lying upon the floor. Equally spaced along the center are large gothic columns stretching towards the ceiling. At the end of the Grand Hall was an enormous door Carrie assumed was the exit. Just as they were nearing the giant doors, Julius stopped dead in his tracks and motioned his hand backwards to signal for them to do so as well. Something's wrong, Carrie could feel it.

"Going so soon?" came an eerie voice from above. Carrie looked up at the ceiling to see a group of people hanging upside down from the rafters, pairs of blood red jewels glaring down upon them. "Those eyes!" Carrie gasped.

 _She was in her room. Something was shaking her, "Carrie, you need to get up sweetheart it's time to go" came a familiar voice. "Daddy?" a sleepy eyed Carrie glared up at her father's pale white face. "What's wrong?" she asked. Her father forced a smile and replied, "Everything's going to be all right sweetie, but we need to go now come on." He reached down and picked her up. Carries sleepy eyes began to drop with the gentle rhythm of her fathers footsteps. He carried her though the halls and down the stairs, but just before opening the front door a scream pierced the night. EEEEEEEAAAAAAA "MOMMY" Carrie screamed, her eyes now wide open. She struggles out of her father's grip and begins running back up the stairs. "CARRIE" her father shouts after her. "CARRIE NO COME BACK!" he chases her up the stairs._

 _Carrie runs strait to her parent's bedroom to see her mom sitting on her bed staring blankly out the window. "MOMMY!" she screams, but she doesn't turn. Carrie rushes to her mother's side, pulling on her sleepwear screaming "MOMMY MOMMY DAD SAYS WE NEED TO GO NOW!" Her father bursts into the room, "Carrie we need to-"his speech cut short as his eyes grow wide. Carrie feels a cold rush of air freeze her skin and turns to see the window open. A creature coiled along the windowsill, with a pair of glowing red eyes staring straight at her. Carrie starts tugging on her mom's arm again, never letting her eyes leave the creature. Its cold eyes staring her down all the while. "Carrie" her dad swallows hard and calmly states "she's gone Carrie there's nothing I can do, we need to leave right now." Carrie pulls harder on her mom's sleeve, "I'm scared mommy, I'm so scared" A large forked tongue slips though the monsters mouth as it licks its lips._

 _The monster suddenly leaps forward and grabs the little girl yanking her out towards the window. "CARRIE" dad screams, and Carrie feels something roughly pull her towards the side. She looks over to see her mom tightly holding on to her legs. "Look at me Carrie, keep looking at me, It's alright." she says. The vampire tugs harder and harder at Carrie's arms, trying to pull her through. Dad jumps at the monster but with a swipe of his hand he's knocked aside. THUMP, his head slams on a dresser drawer. In the chaos her mother pulls her back onto the bed "YOU CAN'T HAVE HER!" she shouts at the monster. "But we get along so well you and I" the monster hisses, "you wanted this, we've become so…acquainted with one another." "YOU CAN"T HAVE HER!" mom screams. The monster jumps towards the little girl, but her mother throws herself at the monster. It easily picks her up and tosses her aside. "Out of my way." It hisses and inches closer until its inches away from Carries face. "You look absolutely delicious." It says._

 _The vampires face is abruptly torn aside. Mom jumps on top of the monster and begins beating it with her fists screaming "RUN CARRIE RUN!" Carrie remains on the bed, confused as to what to do. The disorientated monster quickly reels its claws back and slashes at the woman's neck. Blood squirts into the air as he tosses her aside and stands. "EEEEEEEEE" Carrie screams and holds her arms out into the air. "go away go away go away go away go away GO AWAY!" there's a flash of brilliant green light. Carrie looks up to see the vampire on fire, withering away on the floor as it dissolves into ash. Carrie races out of the room and rushes underneath her bed. Terrified and unable to fall asleep._

* * *

"Those eyes!" Carrie screamed then suddenly fell to the floor. "Carrie!" Ciel shouts but the woman appears unconscious.

"It's for the best Ciel" came Julius's response. "Keep her out of the way while I take care of things" he shouts with a crack of his whip.

"Fool! You've never fought a vampire before." Ciel shouted back. But the Belmont prodigy would have nothing of it.

One by one the vampires dropped from the ceiling and began circling around the pair. Julius threw a few daggers at the creature closest to him which the vampire easily dodged. In that time, Julius closed the distance between them and smashed the butt of his whip against the creature's skull. Three other vampires jump around him. "FIRAGA" he shouts, and his whip immediately bursts into a fiery blaze. He circles the whip around him at such high speeds there appears to be a literal _wall of fire_ blocking their path. A vampire dives underneath the blaze, but suddenly explodes into ash. A wooden stake now in Julius's left hand.

Ciel is surprised. "So you can fight after all Belmont!" She shouts towards him, Julius being far too occupied to care. Ciel swings her firearm on her shoulder and instantly materializes a set of swords between her fingers. These weapons had a long modified blade equally designed for throwing and slashing, the church called these weapons _Black Keys_. She rushes her enemies with incredible speed. The vampires, being unprepared for such an assault, fail to even flinch as Ciel slices them to shreds. Battles with vampires were nothing to trifle over, but these creatures were clearly not expecting such powerful opponents.

"CIEL WATCH IT!" Julius shouts. A surprised Ciel flips backwards to avoid an impending attack and looks around. There's no one around her, what's he on about? Then comes the sudden realization, there's no one around _her_. "Carrie!" Ciel shouts looking back to see the vampires racing towards the sleeping girl. She throws her keys at the enemies, but misses.

Just as the vampires begin to close on her position, Carrie's body spontaneously erupts in blue flames. Ciel glances at Julius to see him throw a second vial of holy water at Carrie. The blaze grows like an explosion. The vampires shriek as they pull back, injured by the holy flames. Ciel quickly closes the distance to kill them, but only succeeds to shoo them away. The vampires re-group for another attack when a sudden flash of green light spits the nearest one in two. One by one the vampires leap into the air and race away under cover of the rafters above. Ciel grabs her assault rifle off her shoulder and races after them, opening fire.

Julius calmly mounts his whip before approaching the witch, now wide awake. "You feeling alright?" he asks. "Much better thanks." Carrie responds and stands on her feet. "It's starting to come back to me. I've been to this castle before. I came here to kill Dracula. Things looked a little different though." her eyes dance around the room deep in thought.

A few minutes later Ciel returns with a bright look on her face. "Did you kill them?" Julius inquires. "A few yes" she responds with a smile. "Good, with that we leave on a good note." Julius says.

The three vampire hunters open the grand door and depart.


	2. Crossroads

**We had a snow day today so I finally got around to writing the second chapter.**

 **I've got a great story planned for you guys, and if all goes well this story, as well as my writing, will improve as it goes on.**

* * *

*CRACK* a chunk of cement shattered on the floor inches from where she stood. Seconds after striking down her lifelong foe Carrie Fernandez quickly regrets her momentary sigh of relief. Dracula is dead, but the castle is collapsing. "At least I can rest knowing my dreams have been achieved." Carrie thinks to herself as she races down the stairs, bricks and concrete falling all around her. The door at the bottom of the staircase is blocked with a mountain of stone, leaving only one means of escape. With no other choice, Carrie climbs up onto the rooftop.

Everything grows quiet.

"It's stopped."

Out of the corner of her eye, Carrie looks up to see a winged horse soaring not high above her head, mounted on it, "Malus!" Carrie cries out.

The boy merely stares back, and quietly glides to the ground a few feet away.

"It's been some time Carrie, I admit I never anticipated you making it this far."

"Malus?" Something about the boy's voice seemed off. Carrie's thoughts drift back to the villager she met at the villa, who turned out to be a vampire. Malus was different however, Carrie could sense it in her magic circuits. The boy had a human soul. Even with their brief encounter she had no doubt he really was the young, innocent, lost boy she had saved days ago.

"You've done a fine job eliminating my doppelganger Carrie. The Lord's arrogance suited the role well though I never intended such an insolent man to maintain the role for long. Congratulations." A wicked smile spread across his face.

"Malus, what are you saying?" none of this made any sense.

"You truly are as naive as you look. Hmph no matter. I shall make this quick." A pool of inky black liquid started to form at Malus' feet.

"Malus!" Carrie cried as the dark fluid started crawling up the boys legs. She races towards him but a wave of dark energy throws her back onto the roof and forcing the air out of her lungs.

When she gathers herself to glance up once more, the boy Malus is gone. A tall man with long purple hair stood in his place.

"Darkness will rule, die weak fool" shouted the demon.

Carrie quickly stood up and readied her side weapons. The twin rings were each inscribed with numerous intricate magical symbols and reinforced in a maze of magic circuits. It was a symbol of her bloodline and the only heirloom that remained from the Fernandez clan in which she was born. They were not powerful, but could easily be filled with the user's magical energy, even if the wielder was a twelve year old novice.

Straightening herself to combat stance, Carrie looks the man straight in the eyes and proclaims, "I don't know what you've done to Malus, but by my mother's blood you will pay!"

Hohohohohoh, bellowed the demon.

"You should show some respect while talking to the Dark Lord little girl."

"What!?" Carrie gasped. It dawns upon her that perhaps the boy was tricking her all along. It should be impossible to hide that much dark aura under the guise of an innocent child, but if this really is Dracula. She takes a deep breath and firmly says,

"So long as Dracula survives, children live in fear. Malus or not, that is something I cannot allow." Her right hand begins to glow with deep emerald light.

But before she can react the man vanishes into thin air. Carrie races to the center of the rooftop, glancing all around her for any traces of his dark magic. Her heart races and she is yet to fully recover from her battle with the Dracula imposter only minutes before. Suddenly, a flash of violet light escapes the corner of her eye, she turns just in time to slash a stream of dark magic with her side arms. The magic dispersing with a flash of white light upon contact with her rings.

"It will take more than that to kill me Count!" Carrie yells, yet the Lord merely vanishes once again. Another flash of violet appears and Carrie blocks another wave of dark energy, but the Dark Lord vanishes before she can retaliate.

"Damn" Carrie thinks to herself. "This is getting nowhere, I can't hit what I can't see."

Then, the purple man manifests directly in front of her among a ball of violet magic. The entire rooftop bursts into green flames. Carrie flushes all the magic power out of her system in into the surrounding area to prevent from being engulfed. "He's testing my abilities, this isn't good."

The Dark Lord raises his hands, and lets out a wave of green fire. Carrie jumps to the side, but the blaze singes her sky blue dress. Still on the ground Carrie lets a small bolt of emerald magic fly from her fingertips. It smacks into the Lord and explodes with a burst of magical energy.

"Grahh" Dracula coughs. He tries to dematerialize again but Carrie interrupts him with a slash to his side. His magical defenses dull the mystical rings cutting edge, but the blunt force knocks him off his feet.

"You are strong Carrie, for a girl."

"My powers are strong enough to destroy any vampire I encounter. You are no exception to that."

"Hahahahaha, there is still much you don't know child. Events that have transpired, events that will come to pass. That kind little heart of yours will be broken in due time."

"Perhaps, but not today." And with that Carrie lets another fury of magic smash into her foe.

Defeated, but not dead. The Dark Lord continues his rant.

My powers escape me "This is not possible. That accursed whip has left this place!"

"What?" Carrie stares, confused once more. She had not seen Reinhardt in days, yet now that he mentions it where was that guy. He couldn't have been too far behind her.

Then something climbs up onto the roof along with them. Carrie turns to look at the rotting face of Vincent, the vampire hunter who helped her in more ways than one during her stay here. But he looked terrible. His coat was torn to shreds and his face looked so burnt it was as though parts were about to fall off. He was also bleeding badly out one of his arms, which hung limp to his side.

"Vincent! What happened to you?!" Carrie screams and rushes to embrace him. The old man pushes her away.

"Back away my child. Can't you see that this creature here is the Dark Lord Dracula?"

"Yes but…" Carrie allows her voice to trail off. Vincent was far older and more experienced than she was and she trusted his judgment.

"He's pretending to be a boy named Malus, but I saved the real boy days ago. He must be far from this castle by now."

"Fool!" Vincent bellowed "Can't you see this boy really is Dracula! If any person named Malus once existed, that boy is long gone. Corrupted by an old dark soul!"

"Corrupted?" Carrie inquired. Then she noticed a long pointed canine escaping the corner of Vincent's decaying mouth.

"It's too late for us now Carrie, stand aside."

Carrie obeyed, and watched as Vincent walked steadily towards Dracula.

"NO BACK AWAY FROM ME YOU EXORCIST!" the purple man screamed as he tried to stand on his feet. But Vincent slammed the back end of him boot onto the man's chest to keep him down. He then pulled out a vial of a crystal blue fluid Carrie recognized as Holy Water.

"Goodbye Carrie, Goodbye Dracula" and with that Vincent crushed the vial in his hands, a brilliant hazy blaze erupting them both.

Carrie watched in silence as the two men slowly faded away just as the flames cleared around them. The battle was over, this war was over. *sigh* Carrie finally let out a deep breath and looked up at the rising sun just beyond the horizon.

"Now I just need to find a way down from here." Carrie chuckled.

"By the Gods it seems a lifetime since last I laughed" Carrie wipes a tear from her eye.

*peep* a sound startles her.

Carrie turns to see a boy sitting in the ashes behind her.

"Malus! You're okay!" Carrie screams with excitement and rushes to his side.

"What! Where am I? What happened to the village?" the boy wonders.

* * *

Carrie and Malus walk into the forest away from the Castle. Looking back Carrie realizes that the destruction had been mostly isolated to the high tower, undoubtedly a part of Dracula's ploy to confuse her. None of that really mattered anymore though. Her vampire hunting days would soon be long behind her. In the two years since her adopted mother gave her life to save her own. She wasn't very old, and much of her recent memories were filled with her training for this very journey. Though her adoptive father much resented the idea of her leaving to pursue the Dark Lord, those two years of hard work had paid off. She could only imagine the look on his face when she returned, "Hey daddy, I killed Dracula." Haha how many people her age could say something like THAT.

Her thoughts are interrupted by the young boy tugging at her skirt.

"Carrie, where are we going? Are we going to eat soon?" Malus questioned.

"We are going to my home, there's a farm, a village, a market, and all the food you could ever eat waiting for us there." Carrie reassures the boy and frizzles his hair. Come to think of it, Carrie hadn't had a meal in a few days either. Last time she ate was with Vincent in the castle's center.

"Vincent…." Her voice trailed off.

"Did you say something Carrie?" the boy nagged, looking up at her with large beady violet eyes.

"Just remembering an old friend. I'll tell you about him when your older."

"But we are older aren't we? I mean, not just anyone comes out of Dracula's castle alive. We can't be children anymore."

"Hmmm, I suppose you have a point there. But most regular folk where we are going aren't going to notice that kind of difference Malus." Now that he mentioned it she did feel older, though she wouldn't call herself an adult just yet. In fact she hated most adults and wasn't looking forward to being one herself.

"Maybe we are grown up in some ways." She quietly responded.

"Great! Then let's get married!" Malus stated as if it were a completely normal thing to say.

"Wha- married?" Carrie stopped walking and turned to face the boy directly.

"Malus do you even know what marriage is?"

"Of course I do, there's a ceremony, we live away from the other grownups, and then we kiss and have a" Carrie puts her hands on his mouth to prevent him from saying more.

"Look Malus, you're a very fine young man. But I think we need to wait til you're a little older before we start talking like that."

"Till we are older?" Malus looks up at Carrie, confused.

"Yes, when you're older then you can start thinking about marriage."

"Then let's promise now." Malus continued, obviously unable to take a hint.

"Promise what?"

"Promise that when we get older, we will get married."

Dang this boy was persistent, and Carrie was not comfortable with this conversation at all. She didn't need to hear him nagging her the entire way back. She did save his life, so it couldn't be that unnatural for him to feel affection towards her. After a bit more consideration Carrie continued,

"Fine, when we get older we'll get married. Happy?"

"No it doesn't work like that you have to promise!" Malus stubbornly kept on. He then got on one knee looked up into her eyes and says, "When I get old enough, will you marry me Carrie Fernandez?"

"Sure" Carrie says, and lets out an awkward smile.

Malus held out his hand and said, "No you have to say I do like: I Carrie Fernandez promise to marry Malus when he's old enough."

Carrie rolled her eyes and in monotone responds "I Carrie Fernandez promise to marry Malus when he's old enough." There's a small flash of light which forces Carrie to blink.

"Good, we are in a binding contract now." Malus says.

"Huh?" Carrie responds, still unsure of what's going on. "Anyway Malus let's get going, we are still a day's walk from Transylvania and food's waiting." She continued walking forward but notices that Malus is not following behind her.

"Malus?" she turns around to see the fully grown purple haired man from before staring at her. The man smiles and says, "Hey Carrie, looks like I'm all grown up."

Immediately the full scope of the situation dawns upon her. Carrie leaps back and holds out her right hand, already ablaze with emerald green light.

"Is that anyway to react towards your fiancé?" He calmly states.

"What have you done with Malus?!" Carrie spits. Something isn't right here. She felt Malus's soul only a moment ago but now it was gone. The creature before her felt different, like a vast emptiness that pulled magical energy inwards, corrupting it, staining it. This man was certainly not Malus, yet didn't they just kill Dracula?

"I am Malus Carrie. I am him, yet I am Dracula. It's a long story." The man continues.

"That may work with a simple villager, but not to a witch. I can sense Malus's soul, and you are NOT him." Carrie screams.

"You are no witch Carrie. Honestly I doubt you even comprehend the meaning of that word. Don't be afraid though, you're my soon to be wife. I don't mean you harm."

"You're insane" Carrie continues. "What have you done with Malus? This is the last time I'll ask."

"This boy Malus you keep refereeing to is nothing but a dormant fragment of a soul that once was a little boy. You're probably already aware that it is not the natural time for which Dracula to be reborn yes?"

Carrie thought about that for a moment. She had a similar conversation with Reinhardt a few days ago, he explained that he was not intended to be the Belmont heir that much she remembered. Though he did mention it having something to do with the Dark Lord's cycle being before its time.

"I've heard a few things." Carrie says quietly, still holding her weapons at the ready.

"Good. Seeing as how I was without a proper body of my own isn't it only natural that I would seek refuge elsewhere?"

"You wouldn't!" Carrie yelled back. "Are you saying that you parasitized that boy? Malus are you in there!?"

"The boy can't hear you Carrie, his and my souls are intertwined too deeply now. We are one and the same. But enough of this, time for you to be my bride."

"Never" Carrie says, and tries to fire her magic at the man, but it extinguishes before it can even leave her hand. A flash of light appears next to Malus, and he turns to unwind a long paper scroll.

"It says here that you are to be my wife when I'm old enough, and I do say I am old enough now aren't I?" He says with a sinister smile. "You've signed a contract Carrie, and that cannot be undone."

Carrie turns to run away, but her body becomes stiff and refuses to move.

"You cannot escape this fate Carrie, once sealed the contract cannot be undone. Now come"

Carrie feels her body turn forcibly towards the man. Left without a choice, she keeps pace next to him. Her mind racing for an escape plan as she heads back towards the destined castle once more.

* * *

Late into the night, Julius and Ciel watch over the camp on their way to England. They stare into the fire while the witch groans and tosses in her sleep.

"She must be having a nightmare" Ciel says.

"Could you blame her? Who wouldn't be after going to a place like that" Julius responds

"There's still a lot we don't know about the girl"

"Yes, but you were right about one thing. She's no demon."

"Really?" Ciel inquired, "Why the sudden change of heart Julius?"

"Demons don't have bad dreams"

Ciel thinks back to her old life as Elesia. When she turned 18 her soul was consumed by a vampire named Roa and together they proceeded to destroy her entire hometown. Roa was eventually killed by another vampire, but Ciel's body somehow separated from the demonic soul. So long as the vampire Roa survives her body can never die.

"You've grown quiet, I'm not stirring up bad memories am I?' Julius inquired.

"Worry about yourself" Ciel snapped back. "Although" she taps her knee deep in thought "That's not entirely true. Demons have nightmares too."

"You were never truly a demon, not completely anyway."

"That's not what I mean. Demons have goals and dreams just like we do so naturally they also have the capacity to feel pain. Their goals are backwards from our way of thinking, so perhaps it's the makeup of our dreams that causes them nightmares."

"Then what do you make of the girl?" Julius asks. "She's fast asleep I doubt she can hear us."

"She's not evil. Though I can't tell more than that."

"Argh, we will have to wait till we arrive at the Mage's Association then."

"Maybe, there's still a chance they won't know anything."

"How could they not? She's a witch. The clowns over there are obsessed with categorizing everything."

"Our own knowledge is extensive yet the church has no knowledge of such a girl." Ciel looks back at the woman sleeping by the fire. "There are many magical families that escape even the Mage's Association"

"Grarff" Carrie mumbles in her sleep. "Impossible, impossible"

"She's saying something" Julius gets up and walks closer.

Ciel pushes the man back. "Let her sleep you creep!"

A wave of anger spreads across Julius's face, but he lets out a deep breath and it quickly disappears. "You should know better Ciel."

Carrie tosses and turns violently. Her thrashing throws the blankets off from her.

"Carrie!" Ciel gasps and tries to hold her still.

"TWO SOULS!" Carrie screams.

"Help me Julius!" Ciel says and Julius rushes over to try and hold the girl steady.

"Two souls should never have become one!" Carrie yells.

"Wake up Carrie!" Julius yells and shakes her soldiers. Carrie's eyes snap open.

*THUD* Julius and Ciel are thrown backwards into the ground.

"Wha-"Carrie looks confused. She looks around see a relieved Julius and an angry Ciel.

"What the fuck was that?" Ciel says. Carrie doesn't say a word.

"Rise and shine missy. I must say THAT was quite the alarm clock." Julius says as he stands up and brushes the dirt off his jacket. "Now that we are all awake I think it's time for us to be off yes?"

Ciel stares up at the man, still seated on the ground. "And you were so curious just a second ago Julius."

"The sooner we get there the sooner we find answers." Julius proclaims and the three vampire hunters continue their journey.


	3. Superstition

**Finally the plot has started moving. Some things in the Nasu/Castlevania universe had to be fudged to make the crossover work but everything is set up the way it is for a reason. Please let me know if I missed any relevant details from either universe though I won't give spoilers if it involves a future plot device.**

 **Have fun trying to figure out Carrie's past.**

* * *

A rush of wind rips though her hair as Carrie departs the airplane along with Julius and Ciel. She pauses a moment to take in the unfamiliar sights. Buildings as giant as mountains line the horizon and the air is filled with the unfamiliar roar of city life. Ciel places a hand on her back and guides her into the car waiting for them at the bottom of the staircase. *click* the door shuts silencing the cry of the wind.

"It's all new to you isn't it?" Ciel asks, glaring happily at Carrie from the adjacent seat.

"I've been to plenty of cities, and I've seen the incredible things magic can do but never anything so…"

"Vast?" Ciel finishes her sentence.

The car begins to hum softly as it pulls away.

"A lot has changed in such a short period of time." Julius says. "But this isn't to be unexpected from a time traveler. She knew what she was getting into Ciel."

 _Not that I can remember making such a choice to begin with,_ Carrie thinks to herself. "It gives me hope to know the human race has come such a long way. They did all this without magic?"

"The common people know nothing of magic." Julius answers. "And the Mage's Association works very hard to keep things that way."

"Magic was never common knowledge in my era either. Though I wouldn't consider it a secret. Everyone in my village knew about Dracula and the vampires. We were attacked, people died. Do the people of this time not know of such things?"

"The potency of magic is inversely proportional to the people's knowledge of it." Ciel says. "They keep the common people in the dark to exalt themselves. Maintaining that secret includes protecting the people from such mystical creatures, if need be."

"Hmph, they do a very poor job on that part." Julius says.

"Regardless, Carrie needs to know these things _before_ we arrive. Unless you want her to make a fool out of you." Ciel says. "And there is a reason why the church and people such as yourself do things differently."

"Very little of this is familiar to me at all." Carrie thinks aloud.

"So you remember now?" Julius asks.

"More than before. Sigh, a lot still doesn't add up though." Carrie says.

"The Mage's may be able to help with that." Ciel says. She means the words to be comforting, though she doesn't trust the mage's to be so kind with their extraction. Still, there is a greater importance at stake here.

"You probably have a lot of questions." Ciel continues. "Where should I start? Ah yes, the automobile!"

"Brace yourself Carrie" Julius chuckles.

Carrie rolls her eyes and stares out the window as Ciel begins her lecture on modern life. Her mind wanders and her eyes slowly begin to fall.

* * *

 _Carrie's eyes snap open. Waking up in Dracula's castle is still an eerie experience for her and though she hates to admit it, she knows it will be normalized given time. She had already spent many restless nights here during her journey though most of those days were spent on the lower floors accompanied by monsters. The upper floors were much more elegant, comfortable, and warm. Her own room was lined with regal carpeting and came complete with a closet, dresser set and chest to hold her things. A giant bed lay as the room's centerpiece with red curtains around the perimeter and more pillows than she honestly needed. Ghost servants regularly wandered the halls and would bring her anything she needed upon request._

 _It has been four days since she was forcibly brought back to this castle by Malus, otherwise known as Count Dracula. Though the Dark Lord was her sworn enemy she could not back out of her vow to marry and protect the man known as Malus. Although he claimed to be one in the same, Carrie could feel a very different aura about the boy that was distinct from the Count. He was a young soul, untainted by the dark. Innocent, pure, perhaps even without original sin. Dracula was the complete opposite. His darkness seemed to engulf everything he touched. Merely being in the same building as him revolted her. It was as though she could hear the cries of all the children he had slaughtered, feel the pain of countless victims brought to their knees. But the contract could not be unwritten. She would protect Malus. She would find a way to do her duty, but above all else she would protect him. There is an immense library within this castle as well as a group of necromancers which have taken up lives here. In addition, vampires and dark priestesses are common place among these walls. All and all there are vast resources available to her now that she is under Dracula's personal protection. If there is an answer to all her life's troubles, it lies somewhere inside this very castle. Perhaps being kidnapped by the Count wasn't such a horrible thing after all._

* * *

"I will save you. Even if the one I must save you from is yourself" Carrie spoke aloud.

"What was that Carrie? Where you even paying attention?" Ciel asked. The car arrived at their destination before she could get a response.

The group leaves the car and walks onto the street. An enormous building stretches out in front of them like a gigantic box. Its walls are intricately designed in brown old style architecture with several panes of old glass lining the pattern. Ciel and Julius lead Carrie past the public entrances into a courtyard at the center. Carrie feels a tingly sensation as she walks through the gateway as if it were accompanied by a rush of cold air. Though the courtyard has several windows and an open ceiling Carrie can tell that much of the compound is hidden away from the public eye. Trees, flowers, and a variety of shrubs fill the garden as well as conceal the doorways and staircases leading into the true compound within. The compound would be completely vacant if it were not for a single woman laying on a bench, her nose buried in a book. She had long blonde hair and wore a dark red suit. Her manner did not match her professional attire, in fact she seemed so occupied with her reading that she hadn't noticed any of them were there.

"Olga! We've arrived." Ciel called to her. The woman held up her index finger and never let her gaze leave the pages in front of her. Ciel's jaw tightened as they waited a few minutes for her to finish.

With a snap, the book closed and Olga sat up to greet them. "Greetings Carrie, Welcome to Clock tower" she says.

"Cut the crap Belnades. We didn't come here to dawdle." Ciel says. Julius places a comforting hand on her shoulder.

"But of course" replies the mage, her eyes staring directly into Carrie's. "Red eyes, how interesting."

"And so it begins" Julius says. "They'd dissect their own mothers if there were profit to be gained from it."

Olga flickers her eyes and tilts her head towards the disgruntled man. "Oh don't be so harsh. And ye harm none do as ye will yes?"

"We'd best be on our way" Ciel says.

The mage Olga leads them down a stair case and into a network of hallways below the compound. It's become obvious to Carrie that their meeting had been prior arranged though she did not recall any time during the trip where Ciel or Julius made any such contact. Much of the new world was still unfamiliar to her and she would need to be cautious. Thus far she has encountered four groups, five if you count the oblivious public: there was Dracula and his forces from which she had apparently been imprisoned; there was the Belmont clan and the church, both of which she could recall from her own time; and there was the Mage's Association, which is completely new to her though they do not seem to be on good terms with the Julius and the church. Though she could not be sure, she did not feel as if she knew any other witches during her time. Actriss and the necromancers didn't count as they were more demons than true magic users.

" _Where were they?"_ a strong voice suddenly interrupts her thoughts. "Where were you?" she repeated outload.

"Beg your pardon?" Olga responded.

"I'm not familiar with you or your organization" Carrie says.

"Not many people are my dear" Olga sighs. She walks up to a giant door at the end of the hallway and opens it. Inside is a circular room with seats falling in interval to the ground floor like a theatre. The majority of seats were empty and only a dozen or so people seemed to be present. Ciel, Julius, and Carrie take seats near the front of the audience chamber. Olga walks towards the front of the room where an old man with a green bowtie is seated. She whispers a few words in his ear and then takes a seat.

"That's Daniel, the house organizer." Julius whispers in Carries ear. "He has little power of his own but oversees Association business in the Director's absence."

Carrie nods and continues to glance around the room. She didn't even know what this hearing was about, though she assumed it had something to do with Dracula. Praying her trust in Ciel and Julius was not ill placed she tries to calm herself, but the situation is stressful.

"Then let's get started" Daniels speaks whilst shifting some papers around on his desk. "We've been informed of the return of Dracula's castle and that you have returned with a girl of unknown origin. Though there may be parties present that wish to engage in a conflict with Dracula, the Director has asked that I remind you all of the Associations true objectives. Julius of the Belmont clan may be first to speak."

Julius stands and turns to face the crowd. In a booming charismatic voice he says "I understand that many of you do not believe in fighting such an enemy as Dracula. You believe that we do not share a common goal. You believe that you are safe in your solitude as you continue your inquires independently, devoid of order. And I can see by the grand audience before me that the Association takes this matter very seriously." He speaks with emphasis on the word _very._

"If I may interject young Belmont" says a blonde man in a dark blue trench coat. "But the workings of Dracula are specifically _your_ responsibility. They have never been of concern to the Association and no amount of youthful idealism is going to change that."

"The circumstances of his resurrection are not as they were before." Julius responds.

"The circumstances are _never_ the same. No two of Dracula's cycles have ever been identical. This changes nothing." The blonde man argues.

"Your point is noted Kayneth" Daniel silences him. "But we cannot proceed further if you do not let our guests speak."

"Thank you" Julius says. "As you are all aware Dracula's castle has returned but the Dark Lord is yet to reveal himself. During our investigation, Ciel and I discovered this girl in hibernation deep within the catacombs. She has lost much of her memory, but she is undoubtedly connected with Dracula's prior resurrection. Many of you have probably noticed the boundary field forming out of Romania and I believe this girl holds the answers."

"We have indeed detected the beginnings of a boundary field from that region and an investigation is underway" says a woman in the back row with short red hair. "We do not have evidence to suggest that field is connected with Dracula's return. There are many unclassified anomalies in Western Europe."

Carrie looks over towards Ciel for an explanation but she is unable to make eye contact across the aisle. She had been so talkative up to this point yet now she doesn't appear to be paying attention as she continues to sit cross legged, arms folded and head down. Carrie tugs on Julius's coat instead and forces him to sit down once more. "What's this about a boundary field?" she asks.

"Dracula's castle warps the land around it into a separate dimension. It does this by gathering magical energy from the surrounding countryside and accumulating it over generations." Julius responds.

This sounds very familiar to Carrie. She could indeed feel a web of energy tying the castle to this world. But its network was not stretching across Europe as Julius seemed to imply. Though the castle was undoubtedly located in Transylvania, its energy network was originating from the Far East. It wasn't memory or intuition. She could literally see the spirals of energy scattering about the air like specks of dust. Ever since she awoke she has been able to see them, though this knowledge did not seem unique to her at the time. Now that she could recall some of her earlier memories she realizes that she could not see such things in her childhood. Something was different now.

Carrie stood and looked towards the audience.

"And who might you be?" asked Kayneth.

"Uh hi, my names Carrie" Carrie says. "You mentioned something about a boundary field stretching across Europe, that's wrong. It's not coming from there, not this time anyway."

"And how did you come privy to this information?" asked the woman in the back.

"I can see them. The energy spiraling around the boundary field that is." Carrie says, she catches Ciel glaring at her out of the corner of her eye.

" _You_ can see it?" Kayneth asks.

"Yes" Carrie nods. "Though I'm not sure how, I don't believe I've always been able to."

"Very intriguing if it's indeed true." Kayneth responds. "And who might you be Carrie. Do you remember your family? Your full name?"

"My full name?" Carrie thinks to herself a moment then recalls something form her childhood. Her parents had a different name but her mother definitely called her, "Fernandez" Carrie states. "Carrie Fernandez."

There is an audible gasp and the audience room grows silent. Followed by bursts of laughter.

"FERNANDEZ ha ha you are a funny one miss Carrie!" a plump man from the left mocks.

"Well then _Fernandez_ , where do you claim the boundary field draws its energy from?" another mage inquires.

"The Far East" Carrie states.

The laughter grows uncontrollably louder. Julius pulls Carrie back into her seat and Daniel slams a book upon the desk to try and silence the crowd.

"Show some respect!" Daniel bellows. "This woman is clearly delusional we do not need to mock her further."

"Truly it is a pity Barthomeloi weren't here to witness this." says the magus in the back.

"What's so funny about all this!" Carrie desperately shouts to the crowd despite Julius motioning her to stop.

"Carrie my dear" Olga says. "The Fernandez clan has been extinct for hundreds of years. Of this I can assure you. And no mage in their right mind would construct a boundary field in Europe with material from Asia, the energy required to travel such a distance is too great. It's terribly impractical."

Julius pats Carrie on the shoulder and stands up to speak again. None of this makes any sense. Carrie can distinctly remember her mother calling her that name and she wielded the Fernandez name proudly in her battle against the Dark Lord. She even killed a fellow Fernandez turned vampire in that castle. This all transpired in the mid 1800's, even if her family died during her sleep there's no way they have been extinct for hundreds of years. It's not possible.

"As we described before, Carrie is having some memory issues at the moment. Though rest assured her mind is returning to her given time." Julius assures the crowd.

"The young woman may not be completely delusional. There has been word that the Serpent of Akasha is headed towards that region." says an old man with gray hair and a gray suit jacket. Ciel perks her head up and looks towards the man speaking.

"Dracula has no connection to the dead apostles Rocco. We have discussed this before." Julius says.

"I would normally agree with you Julius, but these are not typical times. We still do not comprehend Dracula nor his magic and a connection to the True Ancestors isn't totally out of the question." Rocco continued.

"This is absurd" Kayneth says. "The True Ancestors are all dead and Dracula is certainly not among one of them. He was once a man."

"Not _all_ the True Ancestors are dead Kayneth, irrelevant as she may be." Rocco says. "And Roa was similarly human and likewise endures an infinite cycle of death and rebirth."

"Our understanding of the Dead Apostles is lightyears ahead of our knowledge on Dracula." Ciel speaks from her chair. "What hypocrisy, in that you devote so much dedication to the study of one but not the other."

"An agent of the church speaking of hypocrisy. This meeting is full of jester" says a female magus.

The name "True Ancestor" has some recollection to Carrie though she cannot be sure as to why. There is more information in the world than anyone could possibly learn in a single lifetime and though the convention sounds silly Carrie can tell that there is immense shared experience between the people in this room. It isn't wonder that sparks her thoughts however, it is fear. She can't recall much of her own past yet alone the workings of this system. The conversation has been redirected but ultimately this hearing will decide her future.

"If I may have a word" says Olga. "As much as the Association has taken pleasure in avoiding Dracula for the past millennia, don't forget that a hundred and fifty years ago Dracula nearly destroyed this continent. And despite a coalition between the nations, Mage's and the church we were unable to stop the progression of Dracula's forces."

"We do not forget so easily Belnades, that is precisely my point" says Kayneth. "We never defeated Dracula because we didn't need to. The cursed empire fell apart on its own."

"So you claim that if Dracula didn't mysteriously disappear this time you would be able to stop him?" Julius says.

The audience room grows quiet.

"We cannot mobilize on the basis of speculation" Daniel says. "Julius, due to the nature of this threat the Association will investigate these claims. But please do not take this as a guarantee of action."

"Thank you" Julius responds. "And what of the girl?"

"I will take care of her." Olga steps forward. "Due to the nature of her claims I think that I would be most appropriate. I will discover the true nature of her powers and use them to rate the validity of her claims." A disturbing smile spread across her face.

"Very well then, we are adjourned" Daniel states.

The mages quickly file out of the room. Julius and Ciel get up and begin heading towards the door. Carrie starts to follow them but is interrupted by the witch behind her.

"Uh uh miss Carrie. You're coming with me now" Olga says. She grabs Carrie's shoulders and motions her towards a door at the front of the room. Carrie quickly glances back at her comrades.

"It's okay Carrie. Go with her and we'll catch up later." Julius responds.

Carrie follows Olga out of the audience room.


	4. Trepidation

Ciel and Julius depart from Clock tower and walk towards their hotel a few blocks away.

"She is going to perform a consecration isn't she?" Ciel says, half to herself.

"I'd assume so. Nothing wrong with that" Julius remarks.

"It's not the ritual I'm worried about it's what they might find. Carrie herself doesn't even understand who she is, she's malleable. They could use her." Ciel says.

"We will check back with them in the morning. I'm curious to hear the results myself." Julius says. It does occur to him however, that it may have been wiser to ask if he could be present during the ritual. Olga wasn't a snake like the rest, but she was still a magus and not someone to be trusted. She could easily lie about the results and Carrie wouldn't comprehend what was going on.

"I don't feel good about this" Ciel responds.

"Now you're the one being overdramatic" Julius says. "Olga isn't going to hurt her and we need answers. Hunting vampires is the reason you came with me in the first place. Don't tell me you've grown attached to the girl?"

Ciel shoots a glare at the man but stands down. "I'm not saying I like her. But she's different. There's something familiar about her and there's a lot more to this than meets the eye."

"Of course there is, but there's not a damn thing we can do about it" Julius let's a sigh escape his breath. "At least tomorrow we'll know _what_ she is. It's not much but it's a start."

* * *

Immediately after departing from the hearing, Olga leads Carrie into a small room with a single wooden table in the center.

"Have a seat Carrie" Olga motions for Carrie to sit down on the adjacent side of the table.

"Is this an interrogation?" Carrie asks as she sits where she was told.

"You aren't in trouble my dear, and this is a little more complicated than an interrogation. Have you ever heard of consecration?" Olga asks.

Carrie shakes her head.

"Splendid, well it's pretty self-explanatory. Sit tight I'll be back in a jiffy." Olga leaves the room, closing the door behind her.

Carrie sits alone in the empty room and examines her surroundings. There is very little to take notice of however. The room is empty aside from the desk and the empty chair in front of her. Even the walls are flat, gray, and boring. Carrie gets up from her chair and paces around. She checks the door to find it locked. No surprise there. " _Am I being held captive_?" she begins to wonder.

* * *

From the opposite side of the wall, Olga Belnades observes the blue-haired girl with interest. The wall in front of her projected by a barrier that acts as a one way window.

"There doesn't appear to be anything special about her." Daniel says.

"For the Director to ask that you oversee the process personally there has to be something. Look at her eyes." Olga says.

"Deep crimson red yes. Beautiful things, but nothing extraordinary. Eyes of Purity aren't that rare these days. Even without those eyes we can detect the energy shards ourselves with relative ease." Daniel continues.

"The test has already begun. If she can indeed sense magical energy she should be tuning in any minute now." Olga says, eagerly leaning forward in her seat.

The girl spends the first couple of minutes pacing around the room. She checks the door as most people would to find it locked and begins walking around once more. She doesn't appear to be in any discomfort.

"This may take some time Olga, you sure you want to dedicate so much energy towards this?" Daniel asks.

"The girl claims to be a Fernandez. That side of my bloodline died off hundreds of years ago. The very name vanished and could only be mentioned in ancient magical lore. Either she got her hands on a very old book, or she knows something we don't and I don't plan on taking a backseat to family history." Olga retorts.

After pacing around the room for an hour, Carrie begins to show signs of impatience. She twiddles her thumbs and peers into the keyhole on the door to try and see outside. Then surprisingly, she calmly walks back to the chair and takes her seat. She folds her hands onto her lap, closes her eyes, and ceases all movement.

"What is she doing?" Daniel asks. "Is she _meditating_?"

Olga remains silent, her gaze fixed on the girl still as stone. Her calmness seemed almost hypnotic. They had been waiting for over three hours now and she still did not seem phased in the slightest. Could she be sleeping? Could she be trying their patience as well? Did she know they were here? She had so many questions for this girl. First another hour pasted, then another three, another four. Yet the girl who calls herself a Fernandez hadn't moved a muscle.

"I don't know what she's doing Daniel. I'm not even sure how to assess that." Olga says.

"I suggest you go in there and talk to her yourself Olga, you've already succeeded in killing my entire evening. This girl waited over a hundred years to be woken from her slumber, we do not have the same luxury." Daniel says.

"Fine, I'll go talk to her." Olga says. She picks up her briefcase and stands on her feet. Carrie's eyes suddenly snap open.

"What's this?" Daniel exclaims. He pulls a pair of spectacles out of his pocket and peers closely at the girl. But Carrie remains as still as she was before, her eyes frozen as glass.

"I'm going in there" Olga spits as she storms out of the room.

Daniel readies his things and prepares the necessary magic for the ritual.

* * *

"Welcome back" Carrie says as Olga enters the room and places her briefcase on the table.

"Sorry I took so long, something urgent came up I'm sure you'll understand." Olga explains quickly as she opens the briefcase and begins sorting things onto the table.

"I didn't mind at all. Did I pass the test? Did you learn anything?" Carrie asked.

"Pass? This isn't a multiple choice exam. And I haven't even begun yet sweetheart."

"Don't call me names like that, I'm an adult and technically older than you. And I know you were watching me though the wall, it wasn't really that clever of a trick."

"Good then we can rush straight into the next order of business." Olga says.

"Alright." Carrie softly responds. "Though I don't know how much I can tell you, much of my past is a mystery as well. I'd actually be grateful if you could tell me more."

"Yes yes, first Carrie I am going to ask you a series of questions and suggest attributes based on those answers. Then we'll do some trials by magic to see if these inferences are correct. Do you understand?"

"Ask away."

"Good, then first question: What were you doing while you were waiting for me to return?"

"I'm not sure what you mean, you said you'd be back so I waited for you to come back." Carrie says.

"More specifically I mean, were you dreaming? Meditating? Analyzing anything?"

"I wasn't really doing anything at all, miss. You asked me to wait so I waited, it seemed like the natural thing to do."

"Ok, next question: You mentioned earlier that I was watching you, what makes you say something like that?" Olga asks.

"You _were_ watching me."

"But would you know if I was watching you."

"I could see you, you were right in front of me. Is this a trick question?"

"Not at all Carrie. Let's move on to something else then. I want to hear more about you. Tell me, what is it you like most about yourself?"

Carrie has to think about that one for a minute. No one has ever asked her what she liked or didn't like. She was a person of action. She saw something that needed to be done and she did it. Much of her memory still eluded her but she could tell that from a young age she had always been set on the path to kill Dracula.

"My determination." Carrie finally responded.

"Good, and what do you least like?"

"Amnesia." Carrie says with a chuckle.

"An honest answer. How about your favorite color?"

"Purple"

"Hobbies?"

"Um, killing vampires? Is this entire test just a bunch of pointless questions?" Carrie inquired, raising an eyebrow.

"Ha ha perhaps you are right." Olga responds and tears several pages out from her notebook. "You are a sophisticated girl, picture this. A group of fifteen teenagers are sitting on top of the railroad tracks. A train is incoming and on path to ram them. You notice a lever to redirect the train onto another path, though if you pull the lever the train will instead hit a single man walking by. What do you do?"

"I stop the train."

"You cannot stop the train Carrie. This isn't that type of question."

"If I were truly there I would stop the train. If the train couldn't be stopped than I would do nothing."

"You would not save the fifteen children?"

"I would be murdering the single man walking by. Those children knew they were taking a risk when they chose to sit on the tracks. The pedestrian didn't make such a poor choice."

"Ah, so you value that people be judged based on their own life choices?"

"Not necessarily, but you said I wasn't allowed to stop the train."

"Fair enough, how about a different proposal then." Olga inquired as she shifts through the pages in her booklet. "A wife's husband becomes extremely ill and he will die if he is not given a cure. The doctor who created the cure is selling it for an outrageous price and will not allow anyone to have it for free. The wife tries raising the money but is unable to do so. Before her husband dies, she kills the doctor and uses his medication to save her husband's life. Did the wife act immorally?"

"I would not say so. The doctor chose greed and greed fell unto him. There is no moral or immoral action here. The woman simply saved her husband's life."

"And what if I told you, that without the doctor dead no more of the lifesaving cure could be produced?" Olga asks. Carries eyes widen. " _Did she strike a nerve?"_ Olga thinks to herself. Now she was getting somewhere.

"I don't have an answer for that" Carrie responds.

"What do you mean you don't have an answer?" Olga smiles. "Is the action immoral or isn't it?"

"By killing the doctor she has doomed countless others to their death. That's not right."

"So in the previous example you claim to value the choices of the individual, yet here you value the lives of the masses over those choices made by the individual." Olga says.

"That's not what I said, I said I would have stopped the train."

"That's not possible Carrie, I understand you've been around a lot of magic but your answer must correlate with the parameters set within the question."

"Why? There's no reason for that."

"Why? WHY?!" Olga face turns cherry red. "I'm the one asking the questions darling. Let's move onto something else. What do you remember of your life before you awoke in our time?"

"I lived in the countryside with my step parents. One day a vampire attacked our home and my mother sacrificed herself to save me. I vowed from that day forth that I would destroy Count Dracula so children everywhere could sleep in peace. I killed the Count, and somehow ended up here." Carrie responded.

"What of your friends? Did you have any?"

"I met a few people along the way, but they are all dead now."

"Not even a boyfriend?"

Carrie paused for a moment then replied, "No I did not."

"Hmm what a shame for such a lovely woman like yourself." Olga says. Her comment seemed to bother Carrie, which was more of a response than she could gather verbally. "One more question before we move on Carrie. And though this may seem silly it is in fact very important that you answer me truthfully."

"I've answered all your questions truthfully."

"I hope you have." Olga smiles and switches to a new page in her notebook. "So then Carrie, _are you a virgin?"_

The train escapes from the earlier question and slams into Carries stomach. She feels sick all over. Her shoulders tighten so much she has trouble keeping her head from shaking. "What was that?" Carrie asks her to repeat the question.

" **Are. You. A. Virgin?"**

Carrie has no recollection of ever having a love interest. She didn't even like boys in her early childhood and it wasn't until long after her journey into the castle that her adolescence set in. There was no one. There couldn't be anyone. It was just her in that castle, with the boy Malus, and the Dark Lord himself. But it couldn't be true, she couldn't remember anything! It couldn't be true! It mustn't be true!

"Need I ask the question again?" Olga pressed.

"No" Carrie coughed.

"Then what's your answer?" Olga insisted. She stared right at Carrie and was clearly not going to let up without an answer.

"No." Carrie softly spoke.

"Yet you said you never had a boyfriend?"

"Yes"

"I see, may I ask who it was then?"

"I don't know, I have no recollection of it. But I know." Carrie lied.

"Was it a Fernandez?" Olga asked.

"I don't know."

"Then how do you know that name?"

"I told you it's my last name. You said that was the last question I'm not answering anymore." Carrie spat. She crossed her arms and broke eye contact with the Belnades magus. " _I've already lied once, I don't want to risk doing it again_." Carrie thought to herself. She did in fact remember how she lost it. She could remember losing it over and over again, with multiple people but that wasn't what terrified her. " _That's not like me"_ Carrie's insides screamed. This all happened inside Dracula's castle, a large chunk of her memory was still missing from that time. This was bad, this was _unspeakably_ bad. Words could never describe how bad. No other human being could possibly understand how bad. Yet deep down she knew there were far worse things lurking in her mind and the very capacity for her to imagine a worse circumstance terrified her to her very soul. _Truly Dracula is the incarnation of evil itself._

Suddenly her mind her eyes shot into the back of her head. Yet she could see something:

 _There is a line up ahead. A hundred or so people heading into a church so large it dwarfed the surrounding countryside. They are fleeing the country for reasons I cannot understand. Yet I'm in line too. I glance towards my left hand and see a medallion inscribed with the symbol of death. I quickly stuff it into my purse. I'm going with them._

"ARGH!" Carrie cries in relief. She hadn't spent her entire time within the castle after all. There was still hope. It didn't make rational sense, but if she did indeed escape from that dreaded castle there had to have been a better life out there for her somewhere.

"Calm down. I'm not going to ask you questions anymore." Olga says.

"I apologize." Carrie responded, much more cheerfully than before.

"Yes?" Olga says. "Don't answer that, next I'd like to see what the fates have to say regarding our discussion earlier." She pulls out a stack of cards and spreads them in an oval across the center of the table. "Choose"

Carrie silently reaches for the nearest card to her but Olga interrupts, "it is of grave importance that you take this seriously." Carrie glares back at her, and grabs the same card she was reaching for before and lays it face-up on the table. The card shows three arrows rising out of a multicolored flame. It is titled "Wands of Three".

"Very good." Olga says, a golden look on her face. Now choose two more and place them here, she motions to dual positions to the upper right and left of the first card. Carrie quickly choses two more and places them as instructed.

The second card is filled with faceless bodies surrounding a dark structure in the sunrise. Or is it a sunset? The card is titled "Judgment of Twenty".

The third card shows a naked man standing in the middle of a vast desert. A school of floating fish swim along either side, avoiding him. The card is titled "The Fool of Zero".

"Good, very good." Olga repeats. "Now one last card, and place it at the center of all three. Choose carefully, this is especially important."

"I am choosing cards blindly Olga, I can hardly make a proper decision." Carrie complains yet still compiles with Olga's instructions. The final card depicts a brilliant white moon hovering over an ocean. A group of clouds obstruct a portion of the moon's gaze and red liquid drips down from the obstruction and into the ocean below. The card is titled "The Moon of Eighteen".

Olga stares at the cards for a moment, then with the snap of her fingers the wall behind her vanishes. Daniel is revealed on the other side. "Well done Carrie, well done" he says.

"Were you able to get a reading off any of this?" Olga inquires without turning her head.

"Not a thing that makes any amount of sense" Daniel says. "She's made quite the fool of you Olga _Belnades_."

"Thought so" Olga calmly states as she rises from her chair.

Carrie remains seated as Olga steps towards her. This "test" of sorts still did not make a complete sense to her although trickery seemed to be a common theme throughout the process. Carrie could recall reading about such things before, referred to as "double blind" studies. " _I'm not supposed to understand what's going on"_ Carrie thinks to herself. Olga pauses only a few feet from Carrie's seat and stares down at her.

"Is there something else I'm supposed to…." Carrie is thrown backwards onto the floor. The chair she was sitting in tossed aside on the ground. Before Carrie can recover from the throw, Olga grabs her and throws her against the wall.

"Cut the crap Carrie we already know!" Olga says in a stern commanding voice.

"Cut what out, what did I do?" Carrie says. Olga slams her fist into Carries stomach and takes a step backward, allowing Carrie to brace herself against the wall as she coughs blood.

"The game is over Carrie" Olga calmly says. Without allowing time for Carrie to catch her breath she demands, "Tell us your real name."

"Cough.. Carrie Fernan-dez" Carrie says softly. Olga punches her square in the jaw.

"We are going to find the truth sooner or later. Now I'm only going to ask you one more time." Olga kneels down to look at Carrie eye to eye. She pulls her head back by the hair and says "Are you a virgin or not?" Carrie's lips move as if to speak, but her breath hesitates. "ANSWER ME!" Olga screams.

"No, I'm not a virgin." Carrie says. Olga's lips curl upwards in a sinister smile. Without speaking a word, she stands and walks back to the suitcase.

"The analysis has failed. There's no point in continuing this here. Move her to the dungeon where we can observe her better." Daniel says.

Olga fumbles through the bag and pulls out a small round disc perhaps a foot in diameter. One side of the gray stone is covered in symbols and patterns which weave through one another so closely that Carrie can scarcely make out individuals letters. Daniels eyes widen upon seeing the device though he does not speak further.

"Whatever form you are trying to hide isn't going to last much longer. I'll give you a final warning." Olga says. Carrie remains on the ground and doesn't say a word.

Carrie is fully aware that something horrible is about to happen. But the mages do not show any intention of letting her go regardless of what she says. What did they want her to tell them? That she is a witch? A demon? There were certainly other woman living in Dracula's castle, perhaps they were confusing her with one of them? A better question however, was why their so called "analysis" was failing in the first place. She wasn't trying to obstruct them. Unless of course this very act is a part of the process itself.

Olga grabs hold of Carries cheeks and pries her head forward. Carrie tries to turn away but Daniel appears from her right side to hold her in place. The magus holds up the gray disc and turns it around to reveal a glossy side. The edges shimmer like water and Carrie can clearly see her own reflection glimmering upon it. Her face is beaten and warped, and the image itself begins to twist and turn. Suddenly, the image glows a bright white light. It leaks out from the edges and begins to eat away at the fine lines around her features. The image grows brighter, and Carrie can feel her own face begin to swelter as if she'd been horribly sunburned. It grows brighter and brighter as the burning transforms from irritation to extreme pain. Carrie screams!

Everything goes blank

* * *

The girl passed out.

"That is unfortunate" Daniel says.

"It can't be right. You were measuring her responses as well." Olga responded. Throughout the examination they had ran dozens of spells across Carrie's aura and all of them had returned with contradictory results. Such paradoxes were always the result of trickery on the subjects end. Even the best analytical spells could be easily deceived by a good magus which meant that compliance was absolutely essential for the examination to work. Truly this was a good thing, as the system prevented undesirable eyes from prying into ones soul. Knowledge was power, and even a slight revelation could change the course of a battle.

"Have you considered the possibility that the readings are indeed accurate?" Daniel proposed.

"They can't be. I've never heard of anything like this. Unless there's something you're not telling me."

"Possibly, I will have to consult the scriptures to be sure. But first I need to inform the Director of what has happened here. You have no objections I presume?"

"Why are you giving me so much credit? You seem to know more about what's going on than I do" Olga says.

"Not as much as you'd think" Daniel replies. He turns towards the door but pauses before walking through. "Where did you get the mirror?"

"My family has had Lilith's Mirror in our possession for several generations now. Not many know we have it and I'd prefer to keep it that way if you'd be so kind."

Daniel nods in affirmation. "I'll see to it that the girl is moved to a room with stronger security. You're task is done here." He walks out the door.

" _Damn_ " Olga thinks to herself. Why did she have to lose her cool like that? These kinds of tests never ran into such difficulty yet even if she did it wasn't appropriate to rattle someone like that. She knew that but there is something very very wrong about this girl. She acted friendly enough, but Olga had encountered plenty of demons that initially appeared to be allies. Carrie is an unknown, and she came from a place of great evil. But there was a bigger problem.

Lilith's Mirror is an ancient tool dating back to the age of the Gods. Magical arts peaked during those times and many of the skills used in the era have long succumbed to the death of time. No living magus can compete with a sacred mystery making the mirror a foolproof way of identifying an entities true nature regardless if desired to or not. Yet even the mirror seems to have its limitations. Carrie's test results were scattered. At times she put off a strong demonic aura and at others she gave the vibe of an ordinary human. Her origin was completely off the wall and didn't match with anything she'd ever heard about before. She was able to see past the one-way wall yet appeared oblivious to the thousands of other conjuring's stirring about that room. Then there was the matter of her eyes. Red eyes, certainly they were among the mystic eyes although the properties of which eluded her.

Olga stepped outside, leaving a bloody unconscious Carrie on the floor. If any of the tests were to be trusted it was the mirror. Though just because she had never heard of anyone countering it before didn't mean it couldn't be done. She came out of Dracula's castle after all.

She turns around the corner and bumps into the man she least wanted to see.

"Ah Olga, I was just on my way to see you. How did things go with Carrie? Did you find anything?" Julius asked.

"The results were inconclusive." Olga stated. A frown slowly began creeping across the Belmont's face. Olga quickly retorted, "It's inconclusive because Carrie is lying. That or she's completely delusional."

"How so?" Julius inquired.

"I asked if she was a virgin, as I'm sure you're aware of the relevance between vampires and purity. She looked as though she had seen a ghost and she told me she had lost her virginity years ago, yet was unable to describe the lover."

"How is this bad news?" Julius further inquired.

"I tested her soul myself. She's not only a virgin, she's as pure as an angel. I've met newborn infants with a cloudier aura than she."

"You still haven't answered my question."

"She CAN'T be that pure Julius. She's hiding something and until I figure out what, she is staying with us."

Olga stormed around the corner leaving behind a rather confused vampire hunter.


	5. Reservations

**One of the things I love about this fanfic is the convergence of different timelines. Here we see a younger more chaotic Ciel as well as a younger Julius than depicted in Aria of Sorrow. (As we all know how these characters will ultimately end up)**

 **The elephant in the room is Carrie Fernandez, who lacked virtually any character development whatsoever in her original game. She's older now and much is still unknown about her adolescent life.**

 **I understand my story involves a lot of "B" characters so it's never going to attain the popularity of a mainstream saga. But I myself prefer to read these types of stories and there are already plenty of fanfics about Arcueid or Alucard to go around.**

 **Anyway, sorry for the digression and have fun!**

* * *

Carrie awoke with a splitting headache. Her eyes felt heavy, like a rod forcing her to peer through a sheer. "Where am I?" she asked audibly and sat up in bed.

Directly in front of her was an iron gate with a narrow stone hallway on the opposing side. The walls to her room were of a rusty grated material with pads of paper scattered randomly about the room. The cell was empty with the exception of the small mattress she lay upon. Her situation looked rather grim.

"Why?" she wondered to herself. Carrie shook her head to rub off her cloudy mind. Last she could remember she was taking a test with Olga to learn more about her past. Never did she recall being made prisoner. She felt an oddly stiff sensation on her chest and looked down to see her dress was covered in a deep red crust. She immediately recalled the fight she'd had with Olga, as well as the questionnaire.

"Eeep!" Carrie squeaked and rushed her hands up to cover her mouth. She could remember it now. Shortly after her 'final' duel with Dracula as she wandered the regal halls of the upper floors; at home and completely unafraid. She wasn't a vampire but she felt like one of them. Strutted through the halls the same way. Though now that she recalled those days, she didn't stay in the castle for long did she? At least not at first.

"Hey!" came a loud grunt.

Carrie flinched so hard she nearly rolled off the mattress. A rough looking man in a tux was standing in the hallway with a tray of food. "Y-yes?" she asked.

"You're finally awake girl, time to eat" the man responded. Carrie reluctantly walked up to the gate and accepted the food through a small chamber in the corner. She felt a wave of energy rush past her as the chamber opened. Strange she thought to herself, how the wind didn't flow through the open bars as such.

The meal was a simple dish but didn't appear rushed or sloppy in the slightest. She gratuitously grabbed the slice of bread and took a bite into it. "So are you going to explain to me what's going on?" she asked with a mouth half full of bread crumbs.

"I'm sorry miss but I have my orders from Olga to look after you and nothing more. If you have questions you can ask her yourself when she arrives."

"Is that so?" Carrie responded, intrigued at the mention of Olga's name. Perhaps she had been too quick to trust Julius and his comrades. She still couldn't remember much of her past but enough had returned to her that she got the gist of what was going on. She was on good old team Dracula for a time, and that scarred her even more than it did them. Maybe a cage is just where she belonged.

* * *

In another part of the building, Ciel and Julius are glancing over piles of old books.

"This is hopeless" Julius pouted as he tossed another book aside. "If there was something recorded down here the Association would already know about it."

"We've been over this before Julius" said Ciel who was currently hunched in a wooden chair deep in a book. "The mage's don't concern themselves with things that don't concern them."

Julius folded his arms and stared down at her. "There is nothing here" he says firmly. Ciel glances up over her reading glasses. "Aren't you supposed to be the foremost expert on draculian vampires?" she says.

"I've told you all I know already. Humans can't survive in that castle for long. It's just not possible." He sighed, "Olga's right Ciel, she _is_ hiding something."

"Olga? You hadn't mentioned you spoke to her." Ciel turned back to her reading.

"I caught up to her a few days ago, must have slipped my mind" the young man laughed like it was a simple mistake. "She said Carrie told them she'd long lost her virginity."

"Well that's predictable, I could've told you that Julius" Ciel commented, her eyes strolling across the page. "Though the same laws don't quite apply to the Dead Apostles, it's more a secondary characteristic of the behavior I suppose."

"Funny you say that" Julius continued. "Because Olga told me she really was."

Ciel stopped what she was doing. "What? That's not possible."

"Yeah I'd say the same thing, but she's got that mirror of hers ya know?" Julius nervously scratched an itch on his back. "It actually reminds me of what that girl was shouting in her sleep the other day."

"Curious" Ciel stated and continued with her reading. Though she was much more troubled by this news than she let on.

* * *

Carrie sat on the mattress of her cell, an empty food tray in the corner waiting for tuxedo man to return and retrieve it. Unsurprisingly she was having trouble using her magic.

Carrie glanced around the room. She hadn't studied the dungeons within Dracula's castle very well and her cells design seemed eerily simple. There was certainly more to this cell than her human senses could decipher. She sat cross legged in the center as she always had during her magical studies.

She closes her eyes.

A vast emptiness surrounded her. She could feel small tinges of magical energy revolving around the room, but they were far weaker than anything she was accustomed to. Reaching out to the slivers with her sixth sense brought a prickly sensation to her fingertips. It was hot, wild, and stung like a needle.

She continued to gather the small fragments across the room, each piece forcibly injected into her spin like a hot iron. It was beginning to make her drowsy, and Carrie quickly realized that she was expending more energy gathering the elements than she was receiving from them to begin with. Useless.

She'd felt a similar illness before on the day she first met Julius. Though this entrapment was different. It mimicked the darkness of a world without magic yet was derived, and henceforth functioned, on magic of its own. Nothing could match the power of that whip, though her entrapment tried its best.

She opens her eyes.

The world was different to her now. Her memories couldn't comprehend why, but she was a different woman than the girl who grew up in Romania all those years ago. As was apparent by the specks of gold dust visibly floating through the air. This chamber was _filled_ with them. Even more so than the currents she pointed out in the audience chamber.

In between the particles were sparkles of light glittering around the perimeter of the room. She reached out to one of them and tried to catch it, but the specks passed easily through her fingers. Her eyes glowed red as she inspected them closely.

 _You can free yourself from this place_

Carrie nimbly reached around the golden specks, their current dancing wildly across her fingertips. Her eyes glanced at a brief sparkle of purple light emanating from the web like a strand of silk.

SQUEAK

Her thoughts are interrupted as a door down the hallway slowly opened. Olga was probably arriving soon. Carrie leapt backwards and pretended to be sleeping in bed.

"Helloooo" came a familiar voice. "Get up sleepy head I don't have all day."

Carrie got up from the bed to see Ciel standing in the doorway, her hands wrapping a series of wires around the iron bars.

"Ciel!" Carrie exclaimed. "What are you doing here?"

Ciel placed a hand on her hip rolled her eyes. "What does it look like I'm doing. Now stand back."

Carrie jumped as the wire burst into flame, blasting the bars away from the chamber with it. Immediately Carrie felt a rush of magical energy flood the room and her powers returned to her.

Ciel dashed up the stairs with Carrie not far behind. They ran through the halls without encountering a single magus. Carrie assumed Ciel had something to do with that.

They turned around the corner into the courtyard at the center of Clocktower, where Olga was smiling at the center. "Why hello there!" Olga teased, flipping a strand of hair around her shoulders. Ciel stopped dead in her tracks.

"My you do have the most irresistible charm at times my dear." Olga said. "Though you couldn't have believed you'd fool all of Clocktower with such a simple charm as suggestion."

"I'd rather not make a bigger enemy out of the Mage's Association than I already have" Ciel stated.

"Then learn to respect the decisions of our council." Olga replied.

Ciel shook her head. "This girl's now under the official protection of the church." Ciel held out her hands which spontaneously filled with black keys, her primary weapon. "I suggest you look the other way."

"Hmph, as if I'd be intimidated by the likes of you" Olga said. She maintained her footing and glared at the escapees with hands on her hips.

Ciel turned to Carrie and softly spoke, "I need you to grab onto me and don't let go no matter what." Carrie looked up in confusion, but nevertheless wrapped both of her arms around Ciel's waist and held on tightly. Without warning, Ciel leaped into the air towards the rooftop.

The wind rushed past Carrie's face as if riding a roller coaster. But just as they started to come down on the roof she felt a violent tug toss her aside. Her back slammed upon the grass in the courtyard.

"Predictable" Olga spoke. "And _horribly_ cliché." A mace was now visible in her left hand. The weapon was silver and beautifully decorated with a variety of multicolored gems. The end of the weapon made up of a glittering orange ball. Ciel leaped down from the rooftop straight into the magus, their weapons colliding in a shock-wave of steel and silver.

Ciel is pushed back by a strong weaponized gust of wind. She throws one of her keys towards the foe but it is deflected by a block of ice spontaneously summoned in mid-air.

Adrenaline pumped though Carrie's veins, but she held still as the huntresses continued their battle. Waves of emotion ran through her but her memories of combat were still too jumbled for her to make sense. "I have to do something, I'm _stronger_ than this" she thought to herself.

Belnades charged towards Ciel with her mace held high, an array of ice projections hovering about the air around her. Their weapons clashed, Ciel struggling to hold off Olga's physical attacks alongside the wave of projectiles raining down on her. A shard of ice sliced through her shoulder, then a second across her leg.

Carrie was strong, she had faced countless foes in her past _she knew it._ So why was she hesitating. Terrified, a glint of green light began growing in her right hand.

Ciel spun around with her blades, throwing her opponent back towards the garden center. A rush of ice shards emanated from Olga's mace and spiraled rapidly outwards. "FIRAGA" Ciel shouted and the ice shards exploded in a wave of fire.

Olga leaped back as Ciel raced towards her. Dodging and fidgeting around all of Ciel's melee attacks. Suddenly, she held her ground and swung wide with her mace forcing Ciel to leap high upon the roof once more. A wave of energy gathered around Olga's body and spheres of lightning shot out towards Ciel's position on the roof. Ciel tried to dodge them, but the spheres followed her across the roof like homing missiles. Olga turned and bolted towards Carrie, three gusts of fire forming shortly behind her to cut off Ciel's offensive.

"AAAAHHHHH" Carrie screamed, and shot a ball of emerald energy towards the oncoming kidnapper. Olga swung her weapon towards the bullet like a baseball bat, but the recoil from the deflection pushed her backwards onto the ground.

Olga quickly jumped to her feet but was surprised to find Carrie standing before her with another ball of energy at the ready and Ciel standing to her flank. Silently, she held her hands outward and a dark blue orb began to shimmer in front of her. "This is quite unexpected of you Carrie" she said. "You seemed so…fragile" Olga placed a finger to her lips as the orb spun around her. Ciel charged towards the Belnades witch.

"Till we meet again Fernandez" Olga spoke as her body was enveloped in a burst of lightning. Ciel swung her keys towards the spot Olga stood only to hit nothing but air.

"Ciel" Carrie yelled. "We have to go."

Ciel withdrew her keys, jetted towards Carrie, and the two leap onto the roof.

* * *

"I'm surprised you let them go" Daniel spoke from behind his desk.

"You shouldn't be" Olga said, as she helped herself to some of the M&M's in Daniel's office. "It's not like we had any leads to begin with. I doubt even that girl knows who she really is."

"And you do?"

"I know she's not lying about being a Fernandez. Her energy is unique, hereditary. I felt it myself."

"Even the greatest lies are started from a grain of truth Olga." Daniel spun his chair around and glanced at a few documents on his desk. "Though she does not appear to be an immediate threat."

"No, of course not." Olga leaned in closer and kept her voice down as she said, "But I do believe she is of importance to the organizations primary goal."

"Nonsense, she's an enigma not a root."

"Only to you" Olga casually leaned back in her chair. "Anyway, it doesn't matter. I doubt I could find them anyways."

"Than what did you come here for?" Daniel responded with a hint of annoyance in his voice.

"When you're searching for a monster, send a hunter." Olga responded with a smile.

* * *

Carrie sat in the passenger seat as Ciel drove the car around the town. The air was so hot it was suffocating and it didn't help that Ciel had put a barrier around the car to block out magical energy. "To stop us from being followed" she had said. Carrie hadn't spoken much since they got in the car, though Ciel tirelessly attempted to make small talk.

"That Belnades magic is pretty wicked isn't it? I haven't met many who could master the five elements like that." Ciel said as Carrie continued to silently stare out the window. Ciel shook her shoulders until she turned around.

"What?" Carrie asked.

"Say something!" Ciel retorted. "I risked a lot by saving you! The least you could do is say thank you."

"Thanks" Carrie said and turned back to the window.

"Ugh" Ciel said as she pulled the car over on the road side. "Okay what's up?"

"I don't know" Carrie responded.

"I don't know? You always say that. You can't keep up this amnesia bullshit forever you know."

"I'm not trying to trick you Ciel. I'm grateful for what you did, though I think I could have handled myself just fine."

"Ah there it is" Ciel said and opened the door to the car. "Then by all means leave. What do I know about vampires anyway?"

Carrie stared dumbfounded outside the vehicle. The cool breeze that swooped in was very welcome. "Why did you help me?" she asks.

"Hmph" Ciel spat as she closed the door and resumed driving. "This might sound silly, but you remind me of someone."

"That doesn't sound silly at all" Carrie said flatly. "A lot about this world is unfamiliar, yet the unfamiliarity is itself unsurprising. It's like I anticipated to wake up in a place like this."

"You remember everything now don't you?"

"Not nearly. But I recall enough."

"So you know the answer to that question by now then huh? You're not a virgin right?"

"Why is that so important?" Carrie retorted angrily. "It's my life Ciel, you don't need to know every detail."

"No but…." Ciel thought for a second to find the right words. "Virginity is very important when it comes to draculian vampires. It's a type of purity, it determines who can turn, who won't turn, and who already has."

"So what?" Carrie remarked. "Just because I've done it doesn't automatically make me a vampire princess."

"That's not what I heard, Olga used a mirror on you during the consecration didn't she?"

"Yes but…"

"Then you're a virgin. That mirror is foolproof, it can't lie nor be tricked."

"But that's impossible!" Carrie said.

"Hey calm down" Ciel pleaded. "You're pretty sensitive about this stuff huh? You weren't forced were you?"

"Of course not, I'm not someone to be reckoned with Ciel" Carrie crossed her arms and turned in the other direction. "I had quite a bit of stature in my old life. No one would dare oppose me, that's the problem."

"Oh?" Ciel asked curious.

"I'm not sure but…." Carrie sighed before speaking further. "I believe I was an ally of Dracula."

"Interesting" Ciel pondered.

"You're not mad, scared?"

"Of course not why would I be?"

"BECAUSE!" Carrie shouted. "Because I am…."

"Carrie" Ciel turned and faced her comrade with a soothing voice. "Who you were in the past doesn't control the person you are now, you're you."

"How could you be sure?" Carrie asked.

"Trust me, I know" Ciel replied with a chuckle. The two vampire hunters smiled at one another, it's then that Ciel notices the bloodstains on Carries dress. They were almost invisible to her at first, as the stains blended perfectly with the contours of the red fabric. Perhaps it was by design. Carrie suddenly shouted "CIEL EYES ON THE ROAD!"

"Whoops" Ciel exclaimed as she jerked the car back into position. A truck honked aggressively from the other lane. "You're dress is a mess Carrie, though you have an interesting sense of style."

"Me?" Carrie asked. "Actually this outfit doesn't seem like me at all."

"Good, then you won't object to a brief detour." Ciel said as she clicked her blinker on.

"And that is?" Carrie asked.

"It's not really my forte, but there's an outlet mall just up the corner here." Ciel says as she makes a left turn. "And the vampire warrior look just isn't cutting it."


	6. Bread Crumbs

_Carrie races up the staircase, her hands illuminating the dark with a brilliant emerald glow. Her magical barrier breaks the door open, the room doused in blue flame as she tosses a large jar of holy water inside._

 _EEEEEKKKK a woman screams. Carrie bursts into the room just as a dark creature leaps onto the windowsill. The creature shrieks! Carrie throws a jet of emerald flame just as the creature leaps from the window, narrowly dodging the blow._

 _"_ _What was that thing!" the woman screams, but Carrie leaps from the windowsill; ignoring her completely. A jet of blue smoke emanates from her body as she lands from the two story drop, with a high pitched whine. She races into the woods in close pursuit of the dark shadow with red eyes. It runs on all fours with beastly speed, quickly losing Carrie in the brush. She pauses._

 _The night, normally filled with the sounds of insects, owls and frogs, is eerily quite. Carrie struggles to control her heavy breathing and listen for her foe. She knew it hadn't run far, it was hiding, afraid. A rustle to her left sets her off, but it's so dark with the new moon she can't see a thing. She raises her hand in an emerald glow to glance at her surroundings. "It's empty" she thinks to herself. "But it can't be" She faintly hears a childish laugh._

 _Carrie turns, quickly realizing she had forgotten which way she came. "I know you're out there!" she shouts. A soft giggle rustles through the bushes behind her. Then faintly, she hears it. So quiet it was almost a whisper._

 _"_ _La la la la" a young girl sang._

 _Guided by the green glow, Carrie brushes off the branches and thickets as she makes her way through the trees. The singing growing louder and louder the quicker she walks. She arrives at a clearing, but there is no one there._

 _"_ _La la la la" a young girl sang._

 _The singing was soft, yet it echoed all around her. Carrie turned, flipped around again as the creature laughed. Then she glanced upwards. Sitting on a branch with her legs dangling back and forth, was a little girl in a black dress. She had long black hair, tied into two pony tails. Most distinguishing of all were her bright red eyes._

 _"_ _How are you this lovely evening?" she spoke._

 _Carrie stood still, cautiously eyeing the girl who was obviously a vampire. She had seen dozens of vampires before, yet this girl struck fear directly at her core._

 _"_ _Don't be afraid, we've been waiting for you" the child cried._

* * *

"So what do you think Carrie?" an odd voice asked.

"Huh?" Carrie gasped, looking up to see Ciel staring at her from across the table. A straw was sticking out of the corner of her mouth. "That's right, we'd taken a brief detour to get some food" Carrie thought to herself and glanced down at her blueberry smoothie.

They had just finished shopping at an outlet mall uptown. She'd never been to a shopping center before as most of her outfits had either been homemade or gifts. She recalled that a lady had once given her a scarlet dress during her travels, though it was ruined during a vampire encounter.

Ciel had bought her several outfits. The one she was wearing now had blue leggings a white skirt and a green top. Her old outfit washed surprisingly well, though in the end she had decided to ditch it. The clothes were likely a gift from the Count.

"Um, you okay?" Ciel asked. "You zoned out a bit there."

"Sorry, I may still be tired from yesterday" Carrie answered. Ciel's eyes kept darting out to the side as if to signal something. "Is there something on my face?" Carrie wondered.

"Anyway, what were you saying?" Carrie asked.

"The town, what do you think of it." Ciel said.

"It's nice I suppose" Carrie responded, wondering why Ciel would ask such a silly question.

"I don't get to wander places like this very often though I've sometimes dreamt about visiting the world's fair."

"Fair?"

"Ah, well you probably never heard of anything like that" Ciel said. Carrie had been asleep since well before the industry boom. How could she know about anything trivial? There were probably lots of things she knew about her own time that eluded even the scholars.

"What did you and you're friends do for fun?" Ciel asked.

"For fun? Hmmm…. My mother used to teach me songs while we were doing the chores. And some days when we weren't as busy I would run down to the creek."

"That's it?" Ciel said. Her own life took a turn for the worst after Roa took over, but even she had her good days before then. The memories of her childhood friends were among her most preciously treasured. "What about school? Didn't you go to school?" Ciel asked.

"Not really, my mother taught me everything I know. My family didn't go into town that much."

"I find that hard to believe. You're old but you're not _that_ old Carrie."

"My parents were under fear of attack for as long as I can remember. I was only twelve when I first set off to destroy Dracula. There wasn't time for games, I knew what I wanted to do and I set myself to it." Carrie said. Ciel's faces scrunched in disappointment so Carrie added, "I tried making a doll once, but I wasn't very good at it."

"Yeah" Ciel sighed. "People like us need to get out more."

 _VROOOOOMMMM_ came a loud metallic noise from across the street. Carrie immediately leapt from her chair and held out her hands.

"NOOOO!" Ciel screamed as she tackled Carrie to the ground. "What in God's name are you doing!" she yelled. Carrie's breathing calmed and she pointed towards a group of men across the street in yellow hard hats. One of them was trimming branches off a large tree growing along the roadside.

"What, workers?" Ciel asked, wondering what kind of crazy things must be wandering through this girls mind. "Its fine Carrie, don't ever let me catch you using magic like that in public again."

"I…." Carrie's voice trailed off as she watched the workers from across the street. There was nothing threatening about them, but she had _certainly_ seen that device before.

"It's just a chainsaw Carrie. 20th Century fuel that does what men are too lazy to do themselves." Ciel waved off. The table was a mess with a neon blue ooze flowing across it; the remainder of Carrie's smoothie dripping onto the grass below. Carrie grabbed a wad of napkins to clean it up with.

"It just gets weirder and weirder" Ciel said. "Regarding Japan, I'm not sure if we should fly straight there or take a detour across Eastern Europe first. Have you ever been to Japan before?"

"No I haven't." Carrie responded, still unsettled by the loud noise. "Why are we going to Japan again?"

"I thought you said the castle's energy was being drawn from the Far East." Ciel inquired, looking puzzled.

"I did" Carrie said. Now that she thought of it she had said something similar in the audience room at Clock tower. Though she had honestly never been in that part of the world before. Why would Dracula want to go there?

"It's only logical that we try and follow that energy to its source." Ciel announced proudly, slurping up the last of her smoothie. "And seeing as how I have someone who can read it, the trip shouldn't be any trouble at all."

"I actually don't want to go to Japan right now Ciel. If you don't mind."

"What!? What do you mean you don't _want_ to go?"

"I don't mean to be rude, the trip has been lovely so far" Carrie said. At first she thought she was merely grateful to be outside of her jail cell, though she couldn't recall ever doing something fun like this before. And that wasn't only because malls didn't exist in her day.

"Carrie, I'm not in this to play games." Ciel stated as she dumped her cup in the trash. "The truth is I'm looking for someone, and we've wasted far more time than we should have already."

"I completely understand" Carrie said. "I need to find someone too. Myself."

"Alright then" Ciel said.

"Shortly after leaving Dracula's castle I traveled with the Church on a mission. I was recruited at a monastery somewhere in Romania."

"There's lots of monasteries in Romania….."

"I want to go there. I need to know what I found."

"You mean you don't remember!?" Ciel sighed. "Boy what _was_ I thinking?"

"It can't be that far out of the way. You said yourself you wanted to detour across Eastern Europe."

"I didn't mean hike back into Dracula's backyard!" Ciel said. "I've searched the church's records personally and there's nothing remotely connected to Dracula in there."

"Of course not, all the missionaries died." Carrie replied as if it were an obvious matter.

"Oh joy" Ciel said.

The two vampire hunters began walking back to the car when someone crashes into them. Ciel immediately tosses the guy aside forcing him to trip into the grass. "Ugh" he spits, reaching down to pick up his glasses. He was a tall man with long messy black hair and a dark blue coat. "Sorry, I must not have been paying attention" he tries to laugh.

"Sure" Ciel says as she extends a hand to help him on his feet. "Be careful next time."

The man stumbled off as if in a hurry.

"Was he drunk?" Carrie asked, suddenly noticing that Ciel's face had turned bright red.

* * *

Much to her displeasure, Ciel takes Carrie to a monastery less than fifty miles from Dracula's castle.

 **"** The whole thing is open to the public?" Carrie asks.

"Of course, it's a church dummy." Ciel responded. "But that doesn't mean everything is as it meets the eye."

The enclave was tucked away in a gap between the mountains. Gray stone walls enclose much of the perimeter though the inside is beautifully adorned with flowers and shrubs. A stone path carves its way through the natural landscape. There are few people here.

"This place used to serve as a fortress for the Crusades" Ciel says. "Most everything they need is grown and raised right here in the compound. Priests have studied here for centuries."

"It's familiar to me" Carrie says.

"That's good. What about the energy spirals?"

"There is a dark energy in the air, but as before its originating from the east. There's nothing unusual about this place." Though in Carrie's mind she could remember a sickening feeling accompanying her throughout the enclave. There was no such barrier now, but this place used to be a graveyard to magic. "Actually, there's an aura unlike what I'd expect from a church."

"Good catch. This place hasn't been used as a real monastery since the attack last century. It's part of the Burial Agency now." Ciel said.

"The Burial Agency?"

"It's a division of the Church that hunts and destroys…. less than human entities."

"They must not do a very good job" Carrie said. Ciel chuckled at that last comment.

As they walk towards the center of the enclave, Carrie notices a large gap in the wall. A shiver runs down her spine as she eyes the fragments of stone laying across the ground.

"You mentioned this place was attacked last century?" Carrie inquired.

"You were there?" Ciel exclaimed.

"I'm not sure" Carrie responds. "But I remember….fire."

"Interesting. Yes the place was attacked by werewolves if I recall, though the priests were able to hold them off. The building was converted into a temporary fortress and the burial agency has used it ever since."

They approach a circular building with large wooden doors greeting them at its center. Ciel pushes the doors inward and motions for Carrie to walk inside. Flashes of soldier's and a long line of people race through Carrie's mind as she steps through the entrance. _CLANG_ the doors come to a close behind her. The church was carved out of ancient looking stone and had a cool humid smell to the air. They were not alone.

"Welcome back Ciel, it's been a few years" spoke an old man in a black rob. A rope was tied around his waist and purple linen lay draped over his shoulders. Standing alongside him was a younger man in similar garb with dark brown hair. "I don't believe you've met my son Kirei."

"It's a pleasure" said Kirei with an outstretched hand.

"Sure" Ciel said, and reluctantly shook his hand. "This is Carrie Fernandez, she from a time this compound has not seen in over a hundred years."

"Good, by chance would you be one of the nuns lost in the attack?" spoke the old man, seemingly unphased by Carries unusual case.

"No, I came here to participate in a mission." Carrie responded.

"Woman were not permitted to join missions during that time" the man continued. "Perhaps you have made a mistake?"

"I can assure you Risei, she is telling the truth" Ciel interrupted. "She has memories of the expedition that likely brought heretics to this very compound. Would you mind if we take a peek?"

"Hmmm" Risei grunted, stroking his chin. "Very well. Kirei, please escort them to the archives."

"Of course" Kirei motioned with his hands for the woman to follow. He leads them to the back of the chapel, down a flight of stairs, and into a network of underground tunnels. The path ahead lit dimly by a candle in Kirei's hand.

"I didn't know Risei had a son" Ciel stated.

"I have only recently been reunited with the Church since the passing of my wife" Kirei said.

"I'm so sorry" Carrie responded. "I couldn't even imagine."

"Indeed" Kirei said. "Then I take it you're a time traveler?"

"Not exactly" Ciel spoke before Carrie could respond. "I found her sleeping inside Dracula's castle."

Carrie realized to herself that the mages must be referring to time displacement magic, something that was far beyond her league. Some might even consider it sorcery.

"It would be more prudent to direct her towards the mage's instead of us. Is she even human?" Kirei said.

"It's a long story that's frankly none of your business Kotomine" Ciel spat. "And yes, she is human. Of that we are certain."

"Banter isn't going to get us anywhere" Kirei said. He stopped in front of a door and opened it to reveal a small library. The shelves were old and wooden yet coated in some kind of oily preservative. Many of the cubbies were littered with scrolls and tablets rather than books.

"From here on I will need more information" Kirei spoke, looking directly at Carrie.

"As the other man said, it was not typical for a woman to accompany others on a mission. There was a small tournament, and I roughed a few of the players _without magic._ " Carrie said.

"If there was a brawl they were likely looking for soldiers, not missionaries" Kirei spoke, his eyes glancing up and down the aisle.

"There weren't many hunters living here those days, there can't be that many expeditions to sort through" Ciel spoke, racing ahead of Kirei and pulling an old book off the shelf. "It was likely paralleled to Dracula's return"

"I also remember a boat." Carrie added.

"Ah here" Ciel exclaimed. "One of the monks was sent to accompany troops to the United States, but…" she stopped short of finishing her sentence.

"What is it?" Carrie asked.

"He never returned" Ciel finished. "The records don't go farther than that."

"It seems death never leaves you far behind Carrie" Kirei commented. Those words drained some of the blood from her face. She actually knew death. He is a cold spirit, and though immortal he was uncomfortable with his failure to stop Reinhardt and the other Belmonts; a fact she loved to tease him about.

Ciel flipped through the index and rushed towards a folder with a fat pouch full of letters. Together the three of them flipped through them, skimming the contents for any relevant information and paying especially close attention to the dates. Kirei eventually found the most recent one reading:

 _November 12, 1855_

 _Dear Sir Paul,  
I fear we have discovered the root. The creatures of this world are as clever as they are mysterious. The girl has proved exceedingly excellent at tracking them and as I write we are headed north towards the town of Salem. I understand not the agents which conspire against us. _

_We found another one at the house in Tuggstale preying upon the men as they sleep. The troop chased it off in the woods though our luck has been scarce. We've had limited success with the traps as well. These creatures are not as mundane as the agents I recognize back home. They are organized and seem to go weeks between feeding._

 _I would caution against further investigation on the part of the church. The politics of this region have grown tense to say the least. However perilous, I am confident in our ability to navigate whatever dangers head our way._

 _Sincerely,_

 _Isaac Fitzgerald_

"Issac, so that was his name" Carrie says.

"Do you remember anything important? What happened to them?" Ciel asks.

"I don't remember the details" Carrie responds. "But I need to go there"

"Go there!?" Ciel said, a hint of anger in her voice. "It's completely out of the way. Literally the other side of the world!"

"We can go to Fuyuki later, Dracula isn't going to resurrect anytime soon"

"Anytime soon?" Ciel slaps her hands over her face in frustration. "Carrie, I permitted this little detour, but enough is enough. I've wasted enough time already."

"If I might inquire Ciel" Kirei interrupted. "But it seems you're only lead rests inside this girls head. The date on these letters is also troubling, have you ever heard of the American Civil War?"

"I _highly_ doubt there's any connection to that" Ciel said. "What do you think is so important in America Carrie?"

All eyes were now staring at Carrie and she hadn't a clue what she was expected to say. Her past was returning, but too much still seemed uncertain. She went to sleep under that castle for a reason and until she understood what that was she had nothing to go on besides intuition. She took a deep breath and softly answered, "Why not?" Neither Ciel nor Kirei looked any less concerned.

"I don't know what we are going to find. I really don't. But so long as I'm not my old self I feel I won't be able to help you guys as well as I should" Carrie said, a cheeky smile spreading on her face.

*sigh* Ciel let out a deep breath and started putting the papers away. Kirei eyed the pair closely. "Organized vampires" he thought to himself. There were tales of such creatures though they should have all died off by now. Nevertheless this issue did not stretch outside the scope of the vampire hunters themselves. This wasn't his battle and he would need to pay more mind to the upcoming war in Japan.

"I trust you know your way out from here Ciel" Kirei spoke. Ciel nodded his way as if to say "of course, I worked here remember?" Silently, Kirei Kotomine left the room and returned to the offices in the adjacent hallway. He knocks on a door. "Come in" answered a raspy voice.

Kirei walked into his father's office and stood over his desk.

"Did they find what they were looking for?" Risei asked.

"Yes, though they have learned very little."

"That's unfortunate." Risei responded, taking a sip of tea. "You'll never guess who I just spoke to over the phone."

"Who?" Kirei inquired.

"Olga Belnades"

* * *

 **Predictions anyone?**


	7. Requiem for Peace

Carrie and Ciel make their way through the busy streets of Salem, Massachusetts. The streets have become modernized since Carrie's last visit, though she can still recall the cities layout and a few of the old buildings now considered historical structures. It's noisy and early in the morning.

"You are aware that the witch trials happened in the late seventeenth century?" Ciel said.

"Isaac said something about that. It's one of the few towns in America that has had a long history of magic. Fortunately, the dark forest seems to have been chopped down." Carrie said, remembering a marble statue shrouded by fog and trees. The figure depicted a wolfish humanoid beast and had once tempted Carrie to release the black magic held inside. She was wiser than that, but one of the villagers was not.

"Hello, are you folks new around here?" spoke strange man holding a handful of fliers.

"No but..." Carrie began to say when Ciel cut her off, "We are! We're here to see the witch museum. How did you know?" Ciel spoke with an unusual amount of enthusiasm.

"Lots of people travel here to see the witches. There's dozens of stories about magic in this town though I can assure you most are made up" said the man, holding out one of his fliers. "Thank you" Ciel said, taking one of them. The flier was advertising some kind of magic show being held just outside of town.

"You're very welcome miss" the man winked. "Have a nice day now"

Ciel smiled and tugged Carrie away from the man. They continued walking down the street another block before she casually threw the flier in the trash. "I know it may seem unusual to you Carrie, but most people around here aren't going to buy the whole time travel thing." Ciel scolded.

"Yes, but I don't want to lie" Carrie said, crossing her arms. She notices a Blue Jay soaring low to the ground. It chases off a group of birds and perches on a road sign,

 **Salem Witch Museum = .5 Miles**

"We didn't come here for any of this nonsense. Is anything looking familiar?" Ciel said.

"Lots" Carrie responded. "I know there's something important here but I'm not sure what"

"Then let's start with anything left standing since last century" Ciel said. "Though I'd rather skip the Witch Museum if you don't mind."

Ciel and Carrie make their way through the streets looking for the familiar green historical signs signifying an old or restored building. There were plenty of old buildings in the area but none of them seemed to peak Carrie's interest. Then, Ciel notices something interesting. "Carrie" she says, "you were here on a mission trip right?"

"Obviously" Carrie responded. "You saw the records yourself."

"Then did you ever go there?" Ciel said, pointing to a large sign directing tourists towards a church.

"Yeah we did" Carrie said. Ciel beamed with satisfaction as Carrie said it. The church was a bit of a walk as it was far separated from the town's center. A large graveyard scattered about its perimeter with a massive forest stretching beyond its gate. It was one of the few areas that seemed untouched by the impact of modernization and Carries face grew brighter the closer they came to chapel's entrance. There were a lot of tourists around the area, a few of which ran about the exterior with noisy cameras around their necks.

They enter the church through the open doors. It's a small building with standard pews lining the floor up towards the altar. Boring white paint was sprayed on the walls which were lacking in the elaborate paintings and sculptures normally displayed within a house of worship. Compared to the monastery they had visited merely a day before, the building was rather drab. Ceil was about to express her sense of disappointment when she looked over her shoulder to see Carrie's pale expression. She looked as though she had seen a ghost. Her eyes were widened and glowing red. Ciel grabbed her shoulders and realized she wasn't breathing. "Carrie!" she yelled.

* * *

Carrie was surprised to find herself suddenly standing at the front of the church. All the Exit signs and electric lighting had vanished and the pews were full of people. Standing in front of everyone was a teenage girl garbed in white with long blonde hair. "I'm telling you, I saw her in the forest. She was dancing around that statue!" cried the girl.

"That's insane" said Isaac. "She has been in my company ever since we arrived. We all saw the statue. Carrie had nothing to do with it."

"Lies!" the girl cried. She wrapped her arms around her head and fell down to the floor. "Liars, the whole lot of you. Why can't you leave us alone?"

"We cannot take such accusations lightly Isaac" said a man at the front behind the pew. "I know we have a history, but demons are undeniably at work in our town."

"That's why we are here!" said Isaac.

Carrie recognized many of the faces in the crowd. She had been living here for several months and had gotten to know a lot of them more personally than those she knew back home. One of the boys in the front room she had once saved from a crocodile demon at the river. He looked worried, but kept receiving angry glances from his mother.

"It's the girl that is under trial here not you and your men. Why did she come here?" said the judge.

"Carrie has been instrumental in finding the creatures. She's the reason we've come this far." Isaac pleaded.

"And why is that?" said the judge. "How does she know them so well? She's not a nun. This is highly irregular."

"Why?" Isaac asked. All eyes then turned to look at Carrie.

"Answer the question miss" said the judge. Carrie had grown nervous. She had been keeping her powers a secret from the church ever since she started. Technically, she had been sent to America by Dracula to track down a group of defectors but she couldn't reveal any of that to them. She would need to come up with a story, and fast. "I've known about it since I was a child. I don't know how." Carrie responded. Curses, she was terrible at lying.

"Since she was a child?" cried the teenager. "I told you. I told you so."

"Tell us more about these abilities of yours Carrie. Where were you baptized?" the judge asked.

"Baptized?" Carrie said. She hadn't thought that far ahead.

"I hope you understand the gravity of this issue Isaac" the judge said. "Regardless of your intentions, this is not advancing your quest as you wish it so."

The crowd was moving about in their seats, whispering in each other's ear. Carrie could not hear what they were saying though she assumed it wasn't good. There was a dark aura wandering about the air. She could feel the energy pulsing through her body. Shimmering in the morning light were small particles of golden dust. She had been seeing them for a while now, though she wasn't sure what they signified. Carrie focused towards the group of church man in the front pew as they talked amongst each another. Isaac's face was scrunched and the rest of the men looked worrisome.

 _But what were they saying._

Then, Carrie notices the teenage girl laying at the front. A twisted smile had grown across her face and she was staring directly at her. Her mouth was moving like she was saying something, though no sound would escape her lips. The golden strands were moving quickly around her like dozens of mini tornadoes. Then in the light, Carrie could see a shimmer of something else. A strand of violet string moving between the spaces. They were everywhere. Choking the necks of dozens of audience members. The chatter grew louder, and the people were growing restless.

Carrie wanted it to stop. These people were paranoid and her friends were beginning to doubt her. The crowd was growing louder and louder. None of them seemed to notice the tiny strands of indigo around their necks. Carrie glanced around and noticed small hairs tangling around everywhere in the room. One of them right in front of her face. She reaches out with her hands past all the golden specks. She could feel it. The purple strands were tangible, however complex. She felt the strings tingling between her fingers as though shaking hands with a stingray.

"I have no choice, but to confine her to solitude until we learn more about these abilities of hers" spoke the judge. Carrie glanced over to him. Was he blind? Couldn't he see that all these people were choking? She clasped her right hand around the silky strings.

"NOOOO" screamed the teenager. "ITS TOO SOON!"

Carrie tugged the string.

Half the crowd exploded, their bodies fell to the floors and shuttered in an uncontrollable spasm. Anyone left standing screamed and started jumping onto the pews. Their cries drowned by a terrible crunching noise emanating from under them. The teenager was laughing hysterically. "Can't stop it now!" she cried and stood up. A wave of golden dust raged around her as she glared towards the Missionaries. *BLAM* a rush of green light slams into her stomach.

"Carrie!" cried Isaac. Looking towards Carrie's outstretched palm.

"I'm sorry Isaac" Carrie said. "But we are on the same side. You need to get out of here."

The creatures on the ground spat black juices up towards the crowd. They were gaining mass and scattering about the floor. The civilians tried to run towards the back but the church doors slammed shut.

The crowd, and the creatures grew silent.

"You will all die here" said the teenager. "You will fail, and the rest of the world will know nothing of your struggles."

"Death is overrated" Carrie said, her hands glowing a bright green. She unhooked her twin rings from her side.

"No Carrie!" shouted Isaac. "This has gone on far enough." He walked towards the pew and unsheathed his sword. The teenager laughed hysterically.

"I can't fight you Isaac! I'm not the one you're after" Carrie pleaded.

"It doesn't matter anymore." Isaac said, a tear in his eye. He lifted his sword.

Carrie held up her rings in defense, but the man toppled to the ground. His back split wide open with an array of black worms crawling through his flesh. She looked up at the girl in white who was watching her as closely as before. "Don't worry, he's not dead" she spoke. "Just transformed"

Carrie throws down the pedestal in front of her and throws an emerald orb towards the witch. She leaps over it and hovers several feet above the ground. Carrie sends another orb flying which the witch tosses aside as if it were a beach ball. The crowd shrieks in terror and many of the missionaries have since pulled out crosses and holy relics to try and exorcise the girl. Had they been facing a typical European demon their foe would have been immobilized, yet the teen snapped their crosses in half one by one like toys. Carrie runs towards them, until a giant inky pool forms between her and the rest of the crew. She knew not what the black pool contained, but assumed it wasn't a good idea to step inside.

"Damn" Carrie spoke aloud. She had been practicing her teleportation but couldn't narrow down an exact endpoint yet. If she landed in any of the dark puddles she was done for. Instead, Carrie threw more of her green orbs towards the witch. None reached their target.

"My you are an _annoying_ one" said the witch. Her left hand began glowing bright orange with spirals of color and fire dancing around inside. "Simple magic will get you nowhere." The energy ball spiraled towards Carrie. She flooded her rings with magic and sliced the attack vertically in half, yet energy from inside came spilling out of the cone, engulfing her sides. "Argh" Carrie cried in pain.

"Now die little girl" said the witch, as she threw a similar attack. Carrie sent a beam of magic towards the orbs center, but it cracked like an egg spilling a cluster of small missiles into her stomach. She is thrown backwards.

Small clusters of golden dust circle all around the teenager. Carrie had never seen the phenomenon react to magic so heavily before. Whatever spells this girl was casting, they were unlike anything she had ever seen before. Carrie redirects her focus towards a stream flowing down to the church doors and floods energy into it. The church doors fly open and the people race out from the building.

"What!" says a surprised witch. She turns around to face the crowd during which time Carrie smashes a window and leaps outside, racing towards the tree line.

* * *

"Seriously, it's no big deal. This happens all the time" Ciel nervously laughs. Carrie opens her eyes to find herself laying on the ground with a small crowd of people peering down at her.

"You see! She's fine." Ciel says. Carrie jumps up and takes off running away from the building. "And in good enough health to race out of the building, across the graveyard, and into the trees".

"Is she autistic or something?" one of the tourists asks.

"Glad she's okay, I nearly had a heart attack myself" said another.

"Yeah sure, she's a special one" Ciel says, and turns around. "I'm gunna go after her now, thanks for your help everyone"

Ciel begins marching down the church steps but stops in her tracks when she notices a tall man in a brown trench coat standing in her path.

"That's far enough Ciel" Julius says.

"Ugh, dammit Belmont." Ciel said.

"What were you thinking? Kidnapping? Attacking a magus in their own bloody home?"

"Don't pretend you were happy with what they did to Carrie" Ciel said. "I know you hated it as much as I did"

"There is no shame in being cautious. Now are you going to return peacefully or what?"

"We can't go back yet" Ciel sighed. "Carrie's memories are coming back. We'll accomplish more here than we ever could back at Clock Tower. Trust me, I wasn't thrilled about coming her either."

"I'm not here on my own Ciel. Olga sent me."

"Well duh. You think I care what that witch thinks?"

"She's a bit harsh sometimes but she means well. Me and the Belnades clan go way back, we're friends." Julius said.

"Friends? That's an interesting way to put it"

"She didn't think Carrie was human. It's nothing personal it's just a job."

"Well it's a _job_ I know far too well" Ciel pouted.

"Ciel…. Don't make this harder than it has to be" Julius said.

"You can tell Carrie that yourself"

"Where is she?"

"Don't know" Ciel crossed her arms. "I was about to run after her when _someone_ got in my way"

"She's gone!?"

"You mean you didn't see a strange girl with blue hair race off just now?" Ciel said. "Alright come on, she went this way"

* * *

"Jay! Jay!" a blue bird cries from the branches above. Carrie races through the forest as though guided by an unseen force. The golden specks were hovering everywhere, but concentrated along a single jagged line. Carrie knew not what the dust signified, though she seemed to be the only one able to see it. The forest was familiar, exceedingly familiar.

The deer trail she was racing on came to an end along a small clearing in the woods, towards its center grew a gigantic tree with half a dozen limbs sprouting out of a thick center. A large hole was carved along the side and much of the tree appeared hollow. Carrie's breathing quieted as she walked towards the hollow center and peered inside.

"While Dracula exists" a mysterious voice speaks.

"Children live in terror" Carrie responds.

"I cannot desert them" Carrie and the voice collectively respond. The Blue Jay flies down and perches on a low branch next to her. "Welcome home Carrie" it speaks.

"Elof!" Carrie says, tears flooding her eyes. "I… I'm sorry. I can't remember"

"That's expected" Elof spoke. "When you left me here, you warned you may not be the same person who returned and that I was to guide one with the spirit to destroy Dracula back to this place."

"But why!" Carrie said. "What did I do here?"

Carrie senses a magical force raging from the bird and into the tree. A chunk of the trunk burns brightly then vanishes in a bright light.

"This was your home for a long time." Elof says. "Dracula tricked your soul into a contract and sent you here to destroy the traitors who left him. You found a loophole to escape that agreement and remained here for many years before your return."

"I allied with him" Carrie nods, and reaches out to grab a chest revealed inside the tree. "I joined him and I lead his forces against everything I once treasured."

"In a way" Elof responded. Carrie opened the chest and unfolded her old blue dress. It was the one she wore when she initially traveled to Dracula's castle. It was much too small for her to wear now. Alongside it was her green outfit, which she had worn through much of her travels outside the castle. It was a bit larger than the first, but still too small to wear. "I've grown" Carrie thought to herself.

"You knew that Dracula's spirit was bound to an everlasting cycle of rebirth and that he had rushed to power in the 1850's through the borrowed soul of a werewolf and the body of a child." Elof said.

"Malus!" Carrie exclaimed. "I remember"

"Likewise, you were bound to that boy in a demonic script. You could never oppose your fiancé so long as the contract remained, but the same did not go for the Dark Lord." Elof said.

Carrie next grabbed another familiar object from the box. Her twin Hikari rings. They were a family heirloom given to her by her real parents and a symbol of the Fernandez clan. Near useless on their own, they could easily be filled magical energy and transformed even the minutest levels into a lethal attack. Her adoptive father had been hiding a letter accompanying them though he never permitted her to read it.

Elof continued, "So you returned to the Count and helped him rise to power. For only then would you be able to separate the souls. But of course, you yourself could never commit such acts of evil."

Carrie grabbed the dark summoning stone she had used to keep in contact with Dracula and shoved it in her pocket. "I saved Malus" she thought. "What a relief"

"Aye" Elof squawked.

"But I couldn't do more unless…" Carrie's eyes laid down upon a small wooden branch. Its outside was decorated with a variety of magical symbols. A pale blue leather handle wrapped around the base and a crystal clear gem was mounted at the top. "My wand" Carrie thought. It was a powerful tool used to inscribe complex spells into a network for quick access. She had written into it a variety of magical attacks as well as a more complex orb which allowed her to defeat the witch in Salem. But there was another monster here as well that demanded more attention.

Next Carrie grabbed a leather belt out from the bottom of the chest. It was full of rings and pouches, many of which still contained small vials of holy water. "Useful" Carrie thought. Her hands brushed over the last item in the chest, a book.

She grabbed the book and as soon as she opened it, a wave of magical energy exploded outward and into her body. "AAAAAAAHHHH!" Carrie screamed.

* * *

Julius and Ciel were rummaging blindly into the woods when a loud cry sounded to the right. "This way!" said Julius, and the two of them raced towards the direction of the noise. They quickly arrived at a clearing and saw Carrie kneeling at the base of a tree with sparkles of light exploding all around her. Ciel tosses one of her black keys towards the center but it bounced off without any effect.

Carrie stood and looked over at them. The flashes stopped.

"Will someone explain what in God's name is going on!" yelled Julius. Carrie held a finger to her lips in silence. "This used to be my home" she said quietly.

"Really?!" Julius asked, his curiosity peaked. "Wait, is this a good thing or a bad thing?"

"It was undoubtedly the happiest time of my life" Carrie responded. Her eyes suddenly darted to the side and she raced off into the forest. A Blue Jay soaring not far behind her.

"Wait, Carrie!" Ciel yelled, but she was already gone.

"Damn that girl" Julius cursed. "What is this a game of hide n' seek?"

"If she's running it's probably for a reason." Ciel walked forward towards the base of the tree. "It's small but I could see someone building a hut out of this thing. Especially a child."

"She _is_ a child Ciel" Julius said.

"Not anymore, you shouldn't treat her like that. Why do you think she keeps running away?" Ciel said. She eyes the empty chest and picks it up.

"What's that?" Julius asks.

"Only she could tell us that" Ciel responds, tossing it on the ground. "Come one let's find her."

* * *

"Wait, Carrie!" Ciel's voice echoed behind her. Carrie wasn't running very fast, but she was quick to widen the distance from her comrades. Her companion dashed from tree to tree in the canopy above, guiding her way across the familiar yet unfamiliar path. Much of the forest had changed. The woods were thick, confusing, and difficult to navigate. The trees from her old home had grown gigantic and a new thicket of saplings was emerging underneath. Carrie was overjoyed that her home was still here though she felt saddened as she walked between the trees. They would never return to the way they were before, and she would never see them again.

She was sure that her friends could close in on her had they truly needed to, but a temporary separation was necessary in light of her follower. "Are we clear yet Elof?" Carrie said. "Aye" squawked an avian response.

"You can show yourself now. Stalking is quite rude, even for you" Carrie said.

"It's not stalking if your follower knows you're there" came the voice of a young girl. A child garbed in black was suddenly walking next to Carrie, her dark hair tied back into two pigtails.

"You should be more careful. My friends are professionals, they'll kill you if they find you" Carrie said.

"We haven't survived as long as we have by mere luck. I can look after myself, girl" she giggled.

"You aren't fighters Eleanor. These people aren't like the ones that came before." Carrie said.

"Perhaps not, but I've been at this a lot longer than you have" Eleanor said. She skipped ahead of Carrie to look her straight in the face. Her piercing ruby eyes cast such mysteriousness it was intoxicating. They were the eyes of a friend from another lifetime, as well as a requiem for peace. Though they were technically vampires, the Sh'ek rarely killed their victims and aimed towards a discrete relationship with the human race. Descendants from a long line of true ancestors, they survived through camouflage not war. She hated to admit it, but Carrie held a deep envy for them.

"I take it you haven't reconsidered our offer?" Eleanor said.

"Of course not" Carrie said.

"Tis a shame. It would've been so lovely to see you grow, find a partner perhaps. You were quite lonely her by yourself if I do recall"

"That's a lie" Carrie laughed. "I've always had Elof remember?"

"Hmph" Eleanor spat, glancing up at the bird. "A crippling immortality that one chose."

"Besides, I've never been interested in that sort of thing" Carrie said. "I've had the same goal for as long as I can remember. I could never rest knowing it was never accomplished."

"That's not necessarily true. Eternity is a long time my dear. You believe your friends would fail without you?"

"Julius is young but he's stronger than he knows. He's already surpassed Reinhardt."

"Then why stay?" Eleanor said.

"The Belmont's can only attack the man, not the spirit. Dracula will resurrect the same as he always has. Unless…"

"He will resurrect regardless sweetie." Eleanor laughed. "You will merely pass the spirit from one man to another. Nothing will change."

"I don't believe that's true. Though the power to rule will always remain, a new soul will one day conquer the dark."

"You hope" Eleanor said.

"I know"

Eleanor laughed. "The same as you _knew_ you'd never commit the very sins you sought to destroy"

"That wasn't me" Carrie replied with a stern voice. Though it was true. She killed, raped, maimed, tortured, and stole thousands of innocent lives. It was done under the guise of another, under the soul of another, but it was her nonetheless.

"Your body. Your regrets. Your _memories_ " Eleanor hissed.

"Now you're just being cruel" Carrie responded. She reached out and hugged the ancient vampire. Close to her ear she whispered, "I know what you're trying to do. But I can't, you know I can't"

"Let go Carrie. The fighting never stops. No matter the victories, no matter the sacrifices. It never stops" Eleanor pleaded.

"I know, but it's what I have to do" Carrie said, fighting back her tears. "The worst is behind me now, I can't complain."

"And as I said before you never had to go through any of it." Eleanor said. "You're still so young"

"But you still helped me" Carrie said. Reminiscing it all that once was, Carrie had once made a deal with the Sh'ek. She removed the demons of Salem in exchange for information regarding Dracula. After her friends with the church were killed, it was they who took her in and eventually helped her create the pseudo-personality Coller2 which rejoined Dracula's forces in her stead.

"Of course" Eleanor responded. She took a step back and began walking out into the forest. Hundreds of red eyes suddenly appearing around her. "May you find what you're searching for"

"Thank you" Carrie said, and as mysteriously as she appeared, Eleanor vanished.

"Carrie, where have you been?" came Julius's voice from behind her. Carrie could hear rustling in the thickets as him and Ciel closed in on her position.

"I needed a moment to say goodbye. It's okay, I'm ready to go now" Carrie said with her back turned.

"Go where?" Ciel asked. "You're acting strange, what's happened?"

"You are full of questions today aren't you Ciel" Carrie said, turning around to face her new friends with a smile. "I remember everything now, and I mean _everything_. I'm sure you have plenty of questions Julius"

"That I do" Julius responded. "But I'd rather wait, we'll have plenty to discuss on the plane ride, and this forest gives me the creeps."

Without another word, the three hunters depart the forest. A swarm of eyes following them until the very edge.

* * *

 **Thus concludes Arc 1.**

 **It's been such a pleasure writing this story so far. Little by little I can see I'm starting to improve, though each chapter still takes too dang long!**

 **This story is set to take place in 3 story arcs. Arc 2 will take place entirely in Japan and I think it's obvious to any Castlevania fans what will transpire in Arc 3.**

 **There's going to be more a lot more of Tsukihime once I finally make it to Japan, though I am considering migrating this project to a Fate/Castlevania crossover. Thoughts?**

 **And here's a quick shout out to the Carrie Fernandez Appreciation Society. (Which still exists in spirit)**


	8. Moon Princess

"Let me get this straight, your plan isn't just to destroy Dracula, but to end his cycle of reincarnation?" Julius questioned.

"That's right" Carrie nodded, Elof chirping in confirmation from her shoulder. The team had taken advantage of a private jet under the influence of the Burial Agency. It would have been a much more comfortable journey across the world, had it not been for the unpleasant discussions taking place inside. Carrie was trying to bring her friends up to speed with her newly reunited self.

"You're insane!" Julius cried. "My families been at this for hundreds of years. If it could be done it'd already be done!"

"Have any of you even tried?" Ciel said.

"Wha- What's that supposed to mean?" Julius said.

"It's the truth. I've never heard of it." Ciel continued.

"It's not the Belmont's fault." Carrie said, though Julius interrupted her.

"We HAVE tried Ciel. We scattered his remains around the world, ripped the man to shreds dozens of times." Julius said. "He returns every time. His soul is relentless, immortal."

"That won't work. There are specific conditions that have to be met before the Dark Lord's soul can be attacked." Carrie said. "Firstly he has to be at his full power, otherwise you'd never be able to access his entire soul."

"Dracula has met that kind of power before." Julius said, a hand covering his face. "Though obviously, we normally try to prevent that from happening."

"That's not all." Carrie continued. "You also need a magus who knows their way around dark souls. And that whip…."

"Cancels magic" Julius finished. "I'm aware"

"Point is I've lived in that castle. I've breathed the same air, done the same work. And greatest of all I've read the Necronomicon." Carrie said. "All of it."

"Time and time again we've read that book too Carrie." Julius said. "We even had it in our possession for a while. Where is the book now?"

"It's still in his castle."

"Wonderful" Julius said, standing to face away from the group. "Just wonderful."

"Julius, I know it sounds crazy but….." Ciel began.

"It _does_ sound crazy. And it disturbs me that you keep making connections with that girl. Those two things aren't comparable." Julius said.

"I know" Carrie and Ciel answered in unison.

"Bah, what the hell. Who am I to turn down a shot at the big man himself? I'm off for a drink." Julius said, walking towards the front of the plane. He was lying of course, Julius wasn't much of a drinker but he needed some time to clear his head.

Ciel silently watched the woman seated across from her. She was sitting upright in her chair though her face held the same stoic expression ever since Salem. It was mature. Mature and sad. She hadn't realized it before, but Carrie was the first real friend she had in a long time.

Carrie tilted her head in Ciel's direction, "I know what you're thinking" she said.

"Has this happened to you before?" Ciel asked. Carrie had certainly been through a lot more than she could understand right now. She thought back to her first days after the assassins visit.

"No, but I was prepared for this. Those days running away from the castle, away from Clock tower; I did enjoy them if it means anything." Carrie said.

"You have changed." Ciel said. It was a simple statement, and meant to be. Or was it? Ciel wasn't sure of herself anymore.

"I was naive. The me you knew was the phony, technically speaking." Carrie leaned her head against the window. The clouds whipped past the plane outside her window, masking the landscape underneath. "Now that I know what demons lie out there, I cannot turn my back on them."

"Yeah" Ciel responded. "It must be nice though" she thought to herself. "To forget, at least for a little while."

The cabin door slid open and Julius walked back inside. "We'll be touching down soon" he said.

"Jay Jay" chirped Elof.

"Yes, it won't be long now Elof" Carrie said.

"One of these days you need to explain how you can understand that thing." Julius asked. He sat down in his former chair across from Carrie.

"It's not complicated, it's telepathic." Carrie said. "Elof wasn't always in this form, when I first found him he was trapped in stone deep underground. A wizard in his previous life."

"So it would seem" Julius said, leaning back in his chair. "If we are going to go through with this plan of yours I need to make something clear first." Carrie stared back silently, the bird on her shoulder also bouncing in anticipation.

"You take a shot at the king, you best not miss" Julius said.

"This time I won't be alone." Carrie responded and the plane began to steady descend.

* * *

The hot Japanese air rushed through the plane as Julius opened the cargo doors. Ciel was off in the cockpit talking to the pilot. Carrie walked patiently behind Julius as he paced down the steps.

"Their entire team is backwards" Julius thought. He was a Belmont after all, wasn't taking out the vampire king supposed to be _his_ thing? There was something off about the girl. He couldn't place a finger on it but he didn't like the idea of letting her call the shots. The only reason she knew more than he did was because she had been in the dark lord's care himself. Yet that very fact which made her knowledgeable also made her untrustworthy. Any woman capable of that kind of evil couldn't be trusted more than an arm's length. Though then again, he trusted Ciel well enough.

"Hmmm" Julius grunted as he and Carrie waited patiently outside for Ciel to walk down.

"We should get our own vehicle" Carrie said.

"We don't necessarily need one in this country" Julius said. "Though it may be best to prepare for anything."

"Right" Carrie said and she began to walk off.

"Wait just a minute! Where do you think you're going?" Julius shouted.

"Huh?" Carrie turned around looking puzzled. "To get a vehicle"

"You can't drive!" Julius said. He shuffled his feet on the ground, thinking to himself. "I agreed to go with her I didn't agree to let her run about on her own" He thought back to what Olga told him earlier. Carrie's story made more sense than it did before but some things still didn't add up. For one, what was she doing sleeping under that castle?

" _They've likely run off in search of Dracula's forces" Olga had said. "I'm not about to ask you to stop them, but don't let that girl out of your sight. Play along if you have to."_

" _I don't like being asked to spy on Ciel" he responded. "And there's still the possibility she's telling the truth."_

" _We know she isn't a vampire, though that alone isn't enough to clear anyone's name" Olga said. "Until we know for certain who she is we can't trust her."_

" _I'm not a fool Olga. This is a dangerous game you're playing."_

" _I have my faith in the right places" Olga said. She took out Lilith's Mirror and wrapped it in cloth. "Take it with you"_

" _This? And what am I supposed to do with this?"_

" _As she gathers her memories the mirror will grow clearer. It doesn't require any magic to use it."_

 _Julius tucked the mirror in a pocket within his trench coat. "You're not good at the whole 'teamwork' thing are you Olga?"_

" _You believe I'm treating you unfairly?"_

" _I believe you're keeping me in the dark."_

" _And why would I do that? We've worked together for centuries."_

" _On and off for a couple centuries." Julius said. "It's not all meadows and roses with us hunter types. The Belmont's themselves even vanished for a while if you recall."_

" _You're lack of faith is going to cause trouble for you so long as you continue to let it." Olga said._

" _Career liability"_

" _There's always a choice Julius. You've got good instincts, follow them."_

That was what she had said alright, "Follow your instincts". He hadn't spent years training as a Belmont for nothing. He grabbed Carrie by the shoulder and said, "You stay here with Ciel, I'll come back with the car. Easier to carry the luggage that way anyway."

Technically that was a lie. They had small bags that utilized magical storage compression so the luggage was straightforward enough as it was. He wasn't about to let Carrie wander about alone though. To Julius's surprise Carrie responded, "Good idea". She then kneeled onto the ground and closed her eyes.

"I merely took a guess earlier, we still don't know where Dracula's drawing his energy from" Carrie said.

"Aye, you work on that" Julius said, and he ran off towards a large parking structure.

* * *

A strange aroma swam about the air. Julius wasn't proficient with magic though he had learned to hone his senses through years of training under the Belmont name. The air was musky. Humid, though without the icky feeling that normally accompanied the heat. The stench was familiar to him. In fact it faintly reminded him of Dracula's castle.

The sun was shining high in the sky. It was only ten past two, certainly too early in the day for vampires to be rummaging about. But his intuition was rarely wrong. There were vampires in the area. And not the sort he was accustomed to back in Romania.

"She lead us to the right place" Julius spoke aloud.

"Come again sir?" a woman in a suit said from behind the counter.

"Oh um, I'd like to rent a car. Something fast please." Julius awkwardly responded. What sorts of vehicle should he get? He was a vampire hunter not a NASCAR driver.

"If you're looking to joy ride we have a few Porsche's in, or perhaps a Ferrari?" said the vendor. Julius hadn't the faintest idea what either of those two models were.

"Actually, would it be alright if I walk back there and choose one myself?" Julius asked.

"It's a bit irregular but sure, I'll just need to make sure you have a valid license here in Japan."

"Yeah, that's be great." Julius said. He rummaged through his things and grabbed the necessary funds/paperwork. He had several passports, aliases, and drivers licenses to use around the world. There were times when he wondered if he'd ever need most of them as he rarely traveled outside of Europe. It was days like these he was glad to be prepared.

The vendor typed his information into the computer and asked if Julius wanted to purchase travelers insurance, which he declined. It wasn't like they could hold him liable for anything anyway.

"The sports cars are kept in the garage on level 3. I apologize for the inconvenience, we normally chauffeur those vehicles" the vendor said. Julius took quick notice of the parking lot filled with rental cars outside. The parking structure was likely a security measure of some kind. Had he not paid up front, Julius doubted they would have let him browse. He started to walk off.

"I'm a bit short staffed at the moment, though I'll have someone meet you shortly with the keys once you decide. And you are free to change your mind before you leave the lot" the vendor said, before immediately turning to the next customer in line.

Julius walked across the parking lot and into the garage. There was a staircase conveniently located near the front entrance so he could walk to level 3 without running up the entire winding road. The building was a little darker than outside though powerful beams of sunlight poured through a hollowed cavern at the middle of the building.

A worker drove one of the cars down the aisle past him and out of sight. Apart from the occasional worker he was alone in a garage filled with pricey cars. "I only said I wanted something fast, I don't care for this fancy crap" he thought to himself, curling his lips in disgust at the clean padded seats.

*DRIP*

He heard it. So soft it was barely a whisper.

*DRIP DROP*

The sound was coming from the upper level. It was a faint pat, almost like water dripping though different. The foul stench became much stronger than before. Out from the center column Julius sees something dark fall to the floor. He rushes to the edge and looks down to see garbage collected at the basin; nothing of interest. Something soft pats the back of his head.

Julius carefully brings his hand back and feels a small wet spot in his hair. He waves his hand in front of his face to see a small droplet of crimson rolling down his finger. He looks up just as a dark shadow moves away from the edge one level above him.

"I have you now!" Julius proclaims and races around the columns towards the spot on floor, but no one is there. There isn't even a body, though a pool of blood lies splattered along the columns edge just where he'd seen it before. Old and dirty cars are parked all along this level which he can only conclude must be used for damaged storage. That's when he realizes the figure standing in the middle of the roadway.

She wore a long purple dress with a snow white shirt and golden hair cut at shoulder length. Julius couldn't see her face though he could tell she was glaring towards him, or was it to the pool of blood behind him? She walks forward. Her feet seemed to dance along the air as she strode closer. Despite her strong feminine vibes the aura she gave off left no doubt. She was a vampire, and an immensely strong one at that. Julius cursed himself for leaving Carrie and Ciel behind. Could this have been a trap all along? Had she been waiting for him? Julius unwound the legendary whip from his belt and cracked it in the air.

"And what would my trip be without a visit from the welcoming committee!" Julius shouted. The vampire didn't respond, nor did she cease her advance. He could see the color of her eyes now as well as the soft textures of her face. Her eyes were a deep red, not that unlike Carrie's.

"This is your last warning. You're in the presence of a BELMONT demon!" Julius cursed.

The woman's appearance was flawless; too flawless indeed. She couldn't have been the creature that caused such a bloody mess. Bloodstains weren't easy to wash out. Or could she have changed her clothes somewhere up here. Julius shuttered at the thought. Vampires were rarely civilized, though fortunately she wasn't his type.

The vampire continued walking towards him without as much as a peep. He had hoped that their confrontation would lead them further towards Dracula's minions, though at this point conversation seemed out of the question. She was almost within striking distance.

Whatever, it wasn't as if he had planned to spare her anyway. She was a vampire, and vampires had to die.

Julius cracked his whip.

The creature vanished into thin air; rematerializing directly in front of him. Julius grabbed a vial of holy water and cracked it open on his chest. A blue blaze violently engulfed his body throwing the vampire back. The holy flames would not burn for long but they bought him time.

It suddenly dawns on Julius that her powers weren't of teleportation at all, but a blinding speed. This was unlike any of the vampires he or any of his clan had ever encountered before. He could never hope to match that kind of endurance in combat. He clasped onto a mystic stopwatch in his coat pocket and tossed it into the air.

The vampire spun around to his rear and threw her arms forward in a spasm. Julius calmly side stepped her advance, grabbed her arm, and threw her onto the ground using her own momentum against her. Even with time momentarily slowed he could never hope to match this vampire's acceleration. All he could do was predict where her future movements would be and act accordingly. It was a kind of intuition only true vampire hunters could build, and he was of the greatest clan of all.

She immediately recovered from the fall as if it had no impact. Julius threw three battle crosses towards her and dashed towards the cars parked along the edge. The vampire easily dodged the attack.

Julius had received the prayers of the Blessed Virgin herself and could outpace any Homo sapiens on the planet. Even so, his dexterity was dwarfed by that of the foe before him today. This was bad.

Just as she ran upon him, three spikes stabbed deep into her back forcing her to the ground. Julius leaped onto the cars and cracked his whip mercilessly towards his foe. She struggled to pull the crosses from her back, they burned somehow. Julius reached inside his coat and darted backwards, jumping hood to hood on the broken cars.

The vampire was quickly upon him, though her quickness seemed slightly duller than before. Fortunately for Julius, she had not yet developed an immunity to the Belmont's artillery. He tossed several axes backwards, but he threw far too early and they each buried into the hoods of the cars moments before she would reach them.

Julius clasped his hands together. The axes sparkled with electric magic and the engines exploded one by one down the line. The vampire was caught in the middle of the blaze and disappeared in a fury of smoke. Julius jumped down from the cars and threw a handful of daggers blindly into the fog. *CLANG* came a metallic sound. The daggers slammed into the base of a Dodge Dakota as it was thrown straight towards him.

Julius scarcely had time to jump out of the way, in which time the vampire had closed the distance between them. He shoots his hands upwards to block her attacks and catches the blunt of her claw onto his gauntlet, tearing straight through the metal. In a panic, Julius smashes another jar of holy water on his chest and forces the vampire back.

"Ah, you don't like that eh?" Julius snickered, clasping five jars more around his fingertips. "Have some MORE!"

One by one Julius throws the jars towards the ground at her feet. None of them hit their target, but it kept her from closing in on her target. Did she lack the capacity to fight long range?

This time Julius is the one to dash forward, throwing four battle crosses ahead of him. She dodges them as easily as the last but is visibly surprised when throws himself at her; a large wooden stake in one hand and the legendary whip in the other. Julius slashes the air in front of him and wheels his whip around behind him. The vampire blocks his attacks and tosses aside the crosses one by one as they emerge behind her, just as expected.

The whip Vampire Killer swings around Julius's back and cracks straight into her chest. She is thrown backwards and recovers nearly as quickly as the first time, when his whip slashes down from the right and across her shoulder. *CRACK CRACK CRACK* goes the whip as he spins it around himself in a masterful fashion, severing the magical connections spreading around his foe one by one.

The vampire leaps backwards onto the wall and kicks at it with her feet. The wall cracked as she jetted forward towards her opponent. Julius tossed another stopwatch in the air, threw holy water on the ground, and tossed a dagger all in one fluid motion. She tried to spin around the weapon but once in mid-air she could do nothing to change trajectory. The dagger dug into her shoulder. She clashed into Julius and fell to the floor in the midst of the holy flames. Immediately she jumped back, but her speed was noticeably failing as she struggled to regain contact with her powers.

*CRACK* went the whip again. The creature leapt into the air once more and swept down upon the vampire hunter before he could pull out any more holy water. Julius rolled onto the ground to narrowly avoid the attack, only made possible due to her reduced mana. Though even in her weakened state, the vampire was still immensely powerful. Julius's heart pounded out of his chest as he struggled to breath.

The creature wasted no time in her retaliation. Julius threw another cross into the air too late as she back flipped over his head. Julius struggled to pull out a stopwatch in time to deflect her strike with his gauntlet though the cross soon rebounded straight into his back with a crunch. It would not dig into human flesh, though the impact from the strike still knocked the wind out from his lungs. She kicked him in the jaw sending him flying. He slams into the back of the railing. The vampire not far behind.

Julius smashed the remainder of his holy water without bothering to unhook them from his belt. The blast pushed the vampire back just long enough for him to jump over the edge of the guard. As he plummeted down, he quickly caught wind of a small pipe hanging above the third floor. He swings across the gap and rolls across the floor to lessen the impact of the fall.

Before he could even stand, Julius tossed another stopwatch in the air and prepared another one. Up ahead he was one of the workers inside a bright green car about to drive off. Julius used another stopwatch, threw the man out of the car, and jumped inside. He sped off without even bothering to check if he was being pursued.

* * *

"YOU WHAT!" Ciel yelled as she stitched one of Julius's wounds together. He had broken glass stuck all around his waist and even larger gashes across his forearms and back. They were now safely in a hotel not far from the airport.

"Ow, careful" Julius winced. "Did I stutter?" Ciel tightened one of the bandages much more than she needed to.

"So what's the big deal again?" Carrie asked.

"This jerk claims to have gone head to head with Arcueid Brunestud" Ciel said. "Which is impossible for a human to do!"

"She's a vampire I take it? Now that you mention it there is a demonic aura resonating around here." Carrie said, calmly.

"And when were you going to tell me that!" Ciel said.

"Yeah! That would've been helpful like an hour ago Carrie." Julius said.

"I didn't think it was that important. I get all sorts of signals stuck in my head, the only one I care about is Dracula so…."

"So you ignored this without telling us! Curses Carrie, Julius could've been killed. He _should_ have been killed." Ciel said. "Thank God she never went Marble Phantasm."

"I'm sorry, if it helps she is long gone from here. She won't bother us anymore." Carrie said.

"No, we aren't done." Ciel said, finishing up the last bandage. "We've already followed you around the globe, quite literally. Now it's my turn."

"You're turn?" Julius asked.

"Where's that vampire heading off to Carrie?" Ciel said.

"I'm not sure" Carrie said. "I can tell you directions and guess distance based on the strength, but it's not as fine-tuned as you'd think. I see energy in the air flowing like water that's all."

"Fine then" Ciel suddenly pulled out a map of the island. "Give us something, anything."

Carrie studied the map, hesitating. "You do realize this will take us in the opposite direction we need to go?"

"I don't care" Ciel replied.

"Alright then" Carrie said as she pointed at a town to the north.

* * *

 **And that's a wrap for today.**

 **I've decided I'm going to go break this story into another part. After this mini arc I'm giving the green light to a Fate/Castlevania continuation. Saber fans anyone?**

 **Still a few chapters to go in the Tsukihime universe and the best is yet to come!**


	9. Misaki Town

**I recently purchased a copy of Melty Blood. The timing for this chapter couldn't have been more perfect.**

* * *

Ciel, Julius, and Carrie, sit on a bench having spent the morning scanning the area. Misaki town was a small place and Carrie was certain Arcueid was nearby though she was having trouble pin pointing her precise location. There are plenty of people walking about the park, none of them take much notice of the gang.

"I was hoping you'd have better luck finding her in the daytime Carrie" Ciel says.

"She's not like the vampires I'm used to" Carrie says. She watches the yellow speckles of dust float about the air in scattered waves. They were the same specks she had seen upon initially landing in Japan just before Julius was attacked.

"She's a True Ancestor, they gather their energy from the world around them. Though I had no idea they were fueled by a field of this scope" Ciel said, burying her head in her hands.

"Hey, cheer up. Carrie got us this far. She's caught Dracula's scent stronger than a hunting dog." Julius said.

"I know Dracula's all _you_ care about. But I have a life too you know" Ciel said.

"Then we should split up" Carrie suggested. It wasn't a very large town and someone as powerful as a True Ancestor should be conspicuous. With the three of them searching the area they were bound to come up with something. And as Ciel suggested the day before, she owed her one.

"I'm not so sure that's the best idea" Ciel said. "Julius _barely_ survived the last encounter. If we split up and find her we might not stand a chance."

"Actually. I'll have you know I was starting to break her." Julius said, a dark smile spreading on his face. "I'm ready for round 2 when she is."

"You're strong Julius but…." Ciel started when Carrie interrupted her.

"He can handle himself" Carrie said. "I'm not sure why you keep antagonizing him, but he's one of the best hunters I've ever met. With the power to destroy Dracula himself, Arcueid doesn't stand a chance."

"Dracula is a vampire, Arcueid is a True Ancestor. You're comparing apples to oranges" Ciel said. "But I'm out of ideas myself so we'll roll with it. Meet back at this spot around 10pm?"

"Fine by me" Julius said. Carrie nodded and was the first to walk off. Elof bounced in the trees a few meters behind her.

"Julius, be careful out there okay?" Ciel said with concern in her eyes. She walked off in a different direction.

"So then" Julius said to himself. "Where am I supposed to go?"

* * *

Ciel wandered blindly about the town. She tried creating a seeker to hone in on magical energy but failed to find anything worthwhile. The town was a dead zone. Were there even any mages living in the area? She took notice of a payphone on the curb.

Ciel stepped inside the telephone booth and dialed the Burial Agency. The phone rang for a few moments before a deep monotone voice answered the call.

"Hello?" came a voice Ciel recognized as that of Kirei Kotomine.

"Hey Kotomine, could you do me a favor?" Ciel said.

"I assume this is pertaining to business of the Agency?"

"Of course it is, don't complain just because you're the one they have answering the phone."

The phone was silent for moment before she heard a response. "I'm listening."

"I need you to look into the records for any magical families residing in the Kanto region." Ciel said.

"There are none that I've heard of, but I can check. Just one moment please" came the response.

Ciel twirled her fingers around the phone cord while waiting for Kirei to return. She placed a few coins inside the machine just to be safe. A crowd of teenagers were walking past her on the side walk. The woman were all wearing white dress shirts with a yellow cover and blue skirts. The men's uniforms were of a solid dark blue. Students.

"School must just be getting out" Ciel thought to herself.

"Hello? Ciel?" Kotomine said.

"Yeah, I'm here. Please tell me something good."

"There's a few incidents from regions history, though the families that lived there have since deceased. I'm not finding anyone of importance who currently resides there." Kotomine said.

"What a waste. I may have stumbled upon a dead end then" Ciel said.

"I apologize. Is there anything else you require?"

"That'll be all. Thanks Kotomine, I'll update you guys if I hear anything more." Ciel said and she hung up the phone. She was lying, as she had no intention of keeping the Agency in the loop about Roa. If she found him and accomplished her mission it was the end of the road. It would be best not to get the rest of them involved.

Roa had a habit of reincarnating in the body of powerful magic users. But none of the great families were known to inhabit the region. Was someone on vacation perhaps? No, that didn't sound right. Misaki is a completely ordinary town, no magus would want to live here.

Why was she here? She was without connections, points of origin, or anyone to base Roa's presence on. What she did know was that were he went, Arcueid wasn't far behind. And she wouldn't have known about her were it not for Carrie and Julius. She would never have thought to search for Roa in a place like this on her own.

"Sigh" Ciel let out a long breadth. Was she making friends? Since when was that part of the plan.

Perhaps I should check out that school.

* * *

"For a place crawling with vampires this town feels awfully regular" Julius says to himself. He had been aimlessly wandering the residential district for hours. The homes were strange, far different from the places he was accustomed to back home. He didn't hate Japanese architecture, but the difference in culture made it difficult for him to tell when things were out of place. Rush hour was just cooling down and there weren't too many people wandering the streets. Cars rarely sped by.

The road to his left tilted up towards a giant hill. Thinking he could get a better view of the town from the peak, Julius began walking up the path.

He was growing tired. He had initially wanted to take the car he had rented although Ciel had given him a long scolding for choosing something so gaudy. He hadn't been thinking about blending in, he was more concerned with the ability to escape trouble should it show its face. Besides, his appearance shouted "foreigner" enough already. It wasn't like blending in was ever truly an option. Ciel may have been different though. She was technically half Japanese.

As Julius approached the top of the hill the houses grew further and further apart. The grass on the side suddenly evolved into a stone fence with what appeared to be an especially large property. Beyond the wall he could see the tops of a large building that could only be described as a mansion.

Most surprising of all was that the building did not match the traditional Japanese styles he was growing accustomed to seeing. The mansion had a Western feel to it, right down to the iron gate at the front. A car flew past him on the adjacent side of the road and parked in a garage just down ways from the entrance. A short woman stepped out of the car in a strange white uniform, greeted by a red-headed maid.

The building was classy but it was certainly more familiar to Julius than anything he had seen all day. And that in itself bothered him. If he was searching for something out of the ordinary in a Japanese town like Misaki, this was it. He walked up to the gate and found a small buzzer by the door.

"Hello?" came an oddly cheery voice. Julius was surprised by the immediate response. He hadn't entirely decided what to say yet. "Hey" he responded. "I'm not from around here and I think I'm lost."

"This isn't a lost and found. You're calling a residence."

"I know that. You see I'm originally from Romania and this house reminded me of home. Can I speak to the Master for a moment? I promise I won't be long" Julius said. There was a long pause on the other end and Julius began to wonder if the person on the other side was ignoring him.

"You are fortunate in that the Master of the house has just returned home. She's agreed to have you join us for tea if that's alright."

Julius was at a near loss of words. "That'd be perfect! Thank you. Thank you very much!"

"Splendid. I'll open the gates in just a moment" came the voice. Soon after the gates opened just as promised.

Julius cautiously walked up towards the front doors. They opened as he approached and two red heads in aprons stepped outside. The two of them were identical in appearance except for their attire. One wore a kimono and the other wore a western maid outfit. Julius thought the two must be twins until he noticed they didn't share the same eye color. "Peculiar" he thought to himself.

"Welcome" they said. "I'm Kohaku and this is my sister Hisui" said the girl in the kimono.

"Nice to meet you, the names Julius" Julius said, puffing out his chest in confidence. "As I said before I've come a long way. I'm anxious to meet the head of the house."

Kohaku let out a small chuckle. "Haha, and what brings you to Misaki Mr. Julius"

"I'm searching for something. Or rather someone." Julius said quietly.

"That's nice" Kohaku said with a smile. "I'll go fetch the master, Hisui will show you to the tea room."

Julius was ushered inside.

The entryway was a large space which diverged into several hallways. Twin staircases wrapped around the sides of the room and a giant chandelier hung from the ceiling. Kohaku walked up the staircase to the left. Julius watched as she calmly made her way up the steps. She was a peculiar girl and very cheery. He had trouble deciphering if that was how she acted all the time or if she was just being hospitable. The other girl, Hisui, motioned for him to follow into the hall on the first floor. Julius followed her until they arrived at a small dining area.

"They should be arriving shortly, feel free to make yourself comfortable Mr. Julius" Hisui said. Julius took a seat at the table.

"This is a very nice place you have. A rare beauty in a place like this." Julius said.

Hisui continued to stand at the table next to him without saying a word. He glanced up at her, expecting her to say something.

"Is there something you require Mr. Julius" Hisui said.

"No, but aren't you going to sit down?" Julius said. Hisui straightened her posture and stared past Julius towards the center of the room.

Was she ignoring him? Or was this some sort of place where the servants weren't allowed to talk. He hoped the head of the household wasn't a narcissistic jerk. He'd had _enough_ of those people back home. The first lady he'd spoken to had been so much merrier. Was Kohaku the favorite?

It occurs to Julius that Hisui may just be weird. He wasn't a huge fan of small talk but the silence was eating at him. This wasn't his house and he was a stranger to them.

Julius cautiously examined the room around him. There were three windows at the side each with regal curtains closed around them. The table was small for such a large building. Whoever built it either had power, or was extremely wealthy indeed.

Julius decided to attempt small talk with the maid once more. "What does your family do for a living Hisui?" he asked. She stared back at him with a puzzled look.

"I don't believe I have the answers you're looking for" Hisui said.

Kohaku suddenly enters the room with a tray and sets two tea cups on the table. A teenage girl walks a few steps behind her. Julius recognizes her as the one he saw depart from the car. She had changed her clothes however; now wearing a long sleeve shirt and a red dress.

The girl approaches the table and takes a seat. Hisui bows, and quietly shuffles out of the room.

"I take it the master is busy? I suppose I shouldn't have expected an audience on such short notice." Julius says. The girl across from him raises an eyebrow and stares at him with a stoic expression.

"I am currently the head of the Tohno household" she says. "Seeing as you're from Romania I'll permit you to call me Akiha."

Julius's eyes widen. He quickly brings his hands to his side and bows his head. "My apologies miss, I was not expecting someone so young." He then notices a peculiar smell about the room. Dracula's castle comes to mind, though the stench isn't quite the same. Could this be a trap?

Akiha's expression lightens, apparently satisfied with the gesture. "Let's get straight to business then. Kohaku tells me you're hear searching for someone?"

"Yes, thank you for speaking with me Miss Akiha. I've been a bit confused since first arriving here" Julius said.

"Japan can have quite the shock to someone who isn't familiar with the land. But you had to have known that before traveling so far yes?" Akiha said, taking a sip from her cup.

"It's not that I'm unprepared, I was sidetracked to this town with my comrades" Julius said. He carefully watches Akiha's face as he says, "Actually, we were attacked"

Akiha retains a perfect poker face the entire time. "She's definitely hiding something" Julius thought. He was unsure how he should go about changing the conversation though, just in case this girl was as oblivious as she feigned.

"That's a shame" Akiha said.

"It was by something other than human. I've been catching a similar vibe here" Julius said.

Akiha set down glass and casually sat back in her chair. "I can assure you we had nothing to do with that monster hunter" she said. "For the sake of the family name I'd prefer to put such matters behind me. The Tohno's are no longer concerned with such things. "

"Aha, so you do know" Julius said. He leaned forward in his chair and examined the woman further. "You're of demon blood" he said quietly.

Kohaku stepped out of the corner and stood alongside Akiha's chair. Akiha herself appeared most displeased. Julius wondered if he had grown overly comfortable with the conversation. He hadn't intended to insult her.

"Normally, I would not have agreed to meet someone such as you. But my brother will be arriving home in the morning and I do not wish for any _monster hunters_ to be lingering around by then" Akiha said.

"I do not intend to cause you harm. I'm searching for Dracula and a vampire named Arcueid" Julius said. "If I've insulted you I am sorry." He cursed himself for being an introvert. How many times had he apologized now?

"That's good. Than let's resolve the matter swiftly" Akiha said. "I do not know much about Draculian vampires, though the other vampire you mentioned troubles me."

"She's not of great importance to me, although my friends are searching for a similar character"

"You're with the church?"

"I have friends within the church, but no" Julius said. "I represent the Belmont clan. Our sole purpose is the defeat of Dracula and the destruction of his castle."

"I see" Akiha said. She let out a long sigh and waved for Kohaku to depart the room. "Thank you for informing me of the vampire's presence Julius."

"Do you know her?"

"I know she brings trouble" Akiha said. "I will investigate the matter myself. You said you're priority is elsewhere however?"

"Yes, we have a means to track Dracula's whereabouts. Though during our travels I was attacked by this Brunestud woman."

"As I've already expressed I do not know anything about the Dark Lord that can help you" Akiha said. She looked towards the windows past Julius. The sun was getting low and was casting long shadows up the curtains. "However, there is a family south of here that may be of help."

"I've been in this business my entire life, and I don't know of anyone within Japan who would know about Dracula" Julius said.

"Then why come here?" Akiha said, a hint of a smile becoming visible. "The family is known as the Tohsakas. They deal with seals and the elements more than anyone you'll find here."

"Toh-saka?" Julius said, stroking his chin. "I've never heard of them."

"I'll have Hisui write down their information for you" Akiha said. She stood and walked around the table towards Julius. "Thank you for joining me."

It was obvious that she wanted him to leave, although Julius was not yet satisfied with her answers. The girl wasn't human but she didn't give off the same aura as other vampires he had encountered. Could she be a hybrid? And what of the rest of her family? Surely she couldn't be the only one living in this gigantic place. Answers would not come from being rude however. Julius stood up from his chair and followed Akiha outside the room.

Hisui met the two of them in the hallway with an envelope. She opens the mansions entrance and motions for Julius to leave. He takes the envelope and turns to Akiha one last time. "It was nice meeting you as short as it was" he said.

"I'd prefer it to be the last time. I've given you what you wanted, in return all I ask is that you leave the Tohno's in peace" Akiha said.

Julius wasn't sure if he could vow to leave on his own. Ciel was the reason they were here and he couldn't speak for her. Not wanting to be rude he settled for a quick, "I will try" and headed towards the gate. The doors slammed shut behind him.

Inside the mansion, Akiha peered past the curtains at vampire hunter's departure. She watched as he walked down the sidewalk and beyond the iron gate.

"Why must this happen now Hisui?" Akiha said.

"Such things are out of your control" Hisui said. "You shouldn't stress yourself over it."

"But it's my responsibility" Akiha said. She turned away from the window to view her servant eye to eye. "I'd like you to keep an eye on Shiki for me. I'm enforcing a strict curfew until things settle down."

"Yes" Hisui bowed.

"I pray letting him return home wasn't a mistake" Akiha said. She turned back towards the window again, anxiously waiting for a different man to walk up those steps.

* * *

Carrie watched as countless people moved through the crossroads just beyond the park. She had been sitting on the bench for nearly an hour with Elof hiding in the treetops. Her teammates were likely wandering the town somewhere far from here. Carrie had initially began trekking towards the inner city though her senses quickly became overwhelmed inside. Most everyone gave off some sort of magical vibe though the vast majority were too weak to be of use. Finding a single vampire in a sea of bodies was like searching for a needle in the haystack. Besides, Arcueids presence was everywhere and nowhere at the same time.

Arcueid didn't act as typical Romanian vampires would. She placed little effort in concealment and didn't drink blood. Someone like her would probably be hiding in plain sight. A single face blending into an ocean of people wandering the streets. Were Carrie to stay in one spot long enough it seemed likely that Arcueid would eventually pass by. Patience came easily to her.

That's when she felt it. A demonic aura distinct from the rest. It wasn't Arcueid, and it certainly wasn't Dracula, but it held a hunger that could only be paired with that of the undead. A ghoul perhaps? Or maybe a Dead Apostle? Carrie couldn't be sure.

The man stood at average height and wore a suit common to the people making their way home from work. He held a suitcase in his left hand and followed the winding turns and traffic signals just as any other person would. But his eyes set him apart, for they stared ahead with an emptiness and a complete lack of passion. Though he stood some twenty meters away Carrie surmised that his pupils were likely dilated. She wasn't familiar with this type of spirit, but he obviously wasn't human. Would it be appropriate to follow the man? She was technically supposed to be searching for the True Ancestor.

Carrie sat up from the bench and walked closer towards the crowd. She didn't head straight for the anomaly in fear of being noticed, but stayed several feet behind the man as he walked. Where was he going? Could he lead her right to the vampire?

Carrie follows the man around the town for hours; cautiously scanning the air for any signs of magic. The creature didn't seem to have a destination in mind. It was walking aimlessly though the streets, maintaining a directive just well enough to blend in with the crowd. The sun was falling low in the sky and the landscape became covered in an orange glow.

That's when the creature suddenly turned direction. He waited as the stoplight turned green but didn't follow the rest of the people on the crosswalk. Not wanting to be noticed, Carrie kept moving forward across the street. Elof hovered above the man and guided Carrie back towards the creature's location. She took three consecutive right turns to arrive at the location once more.

The man was still standing there, though most of the people on the streets had since dispersed. Carrie snuck behind a corner and called Elof back. The creature looked both ways as if crossing the road, and then vanished into an alley way.

Carrie rushed to the alley and turned the corner. *SMACK* She plunged her face straight into something hard.

"Oh my goodness! Are you okay?" came a young feminine voice.

Carrie rubbed her head and was grateful to notice it wasn't bleeding. She glanced up to see a young woman wearing a familiar school uniform she had been seeing around town. She had long brown hair tied up into two braids. Her aura was human, though Carrie sensed something unusual about her.

"Sorry about that" Carrie said, "Did you see someone walk past here just now?"

"Down here?" the girl questioned with wide eyes, "Can't say that I have"

This was certainly strange. Carrie had seen the man walk down this alley but a moment ago. How could he have escaped notice? And what would a student possibly be doing down here!? Carrie hoped she wasn't doing drugs. The air smelt faint of cigarettes though she couldn't detect much else.

"I apologize, this probably does seem a bit strange" the girl said, "You sped around that corner in an awful hurry. I don't want to hold you up if you've got some place to be."

It was probably best if Carrie didn't get anyone else involved. She thought about running further into the alley herself but was suddenly noticed it came to a dead end about five meters inward. The strange man was gone, but she wasn't completely without a lead. " _Fly around the corner, he can't have gone far"_ Carrie silently said to Elof.

"Actually, my schedule just opened up" Carrie said. She cautiously scanned the area for any eavesdroppers. "My friends seemed to have left me behind. You wouldn't by chance be familiar with the area would you?"

The girl's eyes gleamed with more excitement than should be normal for a girl her age. "Of course! I'd love to show you around. I was just exploring myself" she said.

"Exploring?" Carrie asked. "You're wandering the city alone?"

The pleasure instantly drained from the girls face. "It's not that I don't have friends. I just needed to get away for a bit is all" she said.

Carrie paused a moment being unsure what to say. Perhaps the girl was having trouble at home, or had recently been in a quarrel. Carrie herself wasn't well versed in those kinds of situations, and she didn't have any intention of trying to help her. To be honest she didn't care. There were bigger issues she needed to deal with.

"You can call me Yumizuka" the girl said. "Are you new around here?"

"I'm here on a business trip. I was supposed to meet someone but my directions are literally at a dead end" Carrie said. She walked towards the back of the alley and placed a hand on the wall. It felt like a wall, but that couldn't be possible could it?

"Whatever you're looking for you aren't going to find it here" Yumizuka said. "I come here all the time, and I think I'm the only one."

Carrie examines the wall closer and places her ear onto the bricks. She _knows_ she saw the man walk through here. There must be a secret passage somewhere. Were it built with magic she would have detected it by now. Was there a gateway built into the architecture?

Carrie hears a soft scrapping noise coming from the building. She pulls her head away but the noise instantly vanishes.

"What are you doing over there? Did you find a bug or something?" Yumizuka asks.

"Shhh, quiet" Carrie spits. She leans against the building again and hears the familiar scrapping, the disturbance echoes within the structure making it hard to pinpoint distance.

A screech of gurgling intelligible dissonance sounds off above her. Carrie and Yumizuka look upwards to see the man towering above them on the roof. He stares down at them without moving a muscle, his coat blowing in the breeze behind them.

Carrie suddenly realizes that he wasn't staring at them, but a shadow quickly spreading around them. The sun was quickly setting beyond the horizon. Though the creature could obviously stand in the sunlight, its powers must be connected with the darkness.

The creature leaps down from the roof.

"Get behind me Yumizuka" Carrie screams, but the girl stands in the center of the path dumbfounded with her jaw open. Carrie hated dealing with civilians for this very reason.

The creature lunges forward but is suddenly thrown aside by a bright green light. It slams into the brick wall and falls to the ground, shaking in an erratic spasm as though morphing into something else.

Carrie races forward, grabs Yumizuka's hand, and pulls her into the streets. She runs across the sidewalk pulling the girl behind her who struggles to keep pace.

"Where are we going!" Yumizuka says.

"Anywhere but here!" Carrie responds.

Crowds of people scatter as Carrie forces her way through, shoving one man out of the way who was occupied with his Game Boy at the time. They were making a major scene. Carrie hoped this wouldn't draw attention from the cops. She would have been able to run far faster were it not for the girl lagging behind her. "She'll be eaten if I don't do something" Carrie thought to herself.

Out of the corner of her eye, Yumizuka notices a shadowy figure leaping on the rooftops. It felt like something out of a dream, this couldn't possibly be real.

Carrie's eyes dart back and forth as she searches for some kind of refuge. Anywhere without people would do. She could compromise and go somewhere semi solitary like a bathroom though anywhere she brought that creature could mean death for those involved. And that was something she was all too familiar with.

They were nearing the edge of town when a voice speaks inside Carries head " _This way child"._ Elof flies around the corner and soars several hundred feet above them. Carrie notices a large building up ahead with several gates lining the outside in rows. There were a dozen trucks parked in the arena as well. She prayed that no one was currently working at the warehouse, it should be after hours. She tightened her grip on Yumizukas hand and dashed to the side. A large shadow immediately fell in front of them.

*BLAM* A great flash of emerald light slugged the monster aside. Carrie never slowed her pace.

As they neared the entrance to the building Carrie reached out with her magic and picked the lock. The doors swung open on their approach and Carrie tossed Yumizuka inside. She spun around the corner and slammed the doors behind her. A loud click echoed in the room as Carrie locked the door. It was silent thereafter.

Carrie turned away from the door expecting the girl to be scampering with questions. To her surprise, Yumizuka remained quiet and seemed oddly comfortable with the situation.

"I need you to listen closely" Carrie said. "That thing is going to be here soon. There is nothing you can do to stop it. I need you to find somewhere safe and stay there until someone retrieves you. Understand."

The girl nodded.

"Good" Carrie said. She grabbed Yumi's hand and walked deeper into the building. The ceiling was tall and the room was filled with crates and boxes, many of them sorted into large steel bins or wrapped in plastic. Towards the corner of the room were a series of bay doors, all closed tight though at the end Carrie found one with a trailer sticking out the back. She opened the doors to find it half filled with canned goods.

"You can hide in here" Carrie stated. Yumizuka nodded but before she could take a step forward a long tentacle stretched around the corner and grabbed her waist. "Eeeeeekkkk!" she screamed.

Carrie rushed forward and sliced the tentacle in half with one of her Hikari rings. The warmish appendage feel to the floor and began squirming away. Carrie stood in front of Yumizuka and wrapped her left hand around her, a bright glow forming in her right hand.

The creature stepped out from behind a steel rack. He still resembled a human, though is body was bent at horrible angles and an ooze of dark squirming appendages was bursting from his back. His mouth hung open and though he spoke the voice didn't emanate from his face.

"Why are you being so feisty today my sweeeet" the creature crackled.

"Leave while you still can demon. Oppose me and you die." Carrie said.

The creature ignored Carrie and hissed, "We could use someone as rare as yourself, you can resist all you want it's only a matter of time."

The thing stepped forward.

"Get in the trailer Yumizuka, do as I say." Carrie said. She felt a tap on her shoulder as Yumizuka silently acknowledged her and raced back to safety. The creature lunged but Carrie threw it back with her emerald magic. Her magic had long since locked onto the trailer door, which slammed shut as soon as Yumizuka was inside.

"You shouldn't have done that" Carrie said. She stretched her neck from side to side with an audible crack. "I've been asleep for a long time. I could use the exercise."

Both her hands quickly glowed a bright green.

"Jay Jay!" cried the bird from the rafters above.

"It's alright Elof. I'll go easy on him" Carrie smiled. She had already planned on minimizing collateral damage but was grateful for the bird's advice nonetheless.

A swarm of tentacles erupted from the monsters back in a bee line towards her. Carrie flung both beams of magic towards her side and sliced the tentacles apart one by one. The emerald beams circled the area for a few seconds before striking into the creature with a massive explosion. Concrete and debris scattered from the blast.

The creature leaped backwards. It avoided a direct hit form the attack but its clothing was shredded apart. Carrie wasted no time rushing her opponent. The creature swung several of the black tentacles around the area, all of which were ripped to shreds upon contact with Carrie's rings.

As Carrie closed in on the monster, it attempted to side step the woman and attack her side. But Carrie was much faster, kicking under its feet and swinging it in into the air using its own momentum. She immediately fired a bright beam of light. It exploded on contact, destroying hundreds of tentacles the monster had put up in defense.

The creature dashed behind the steel columns as soon as it landed. "Was it trying to escape?" Carrie wondered. It definitely had an interest in that Yumi girl and probably wouldn't stop on its own.

Carrie's eyes glowed red.

"CAW CAW!" Elof cried.

Carrie wasn't insane enough to unlock her origin here. She merely needed to follow the monsters footprints. Specks of black dust swirled amongst the air in between the familiar golden specks. The current was spreading far ahead of her and gaining speed.

A bright blue mist erupted from Carrie's body as she sprang forward with inhuman speed. Her eyes returned to their normal crimson color soon after spotting the creature clumsily tripping through the boxes in search of an opening. It leaps up towards a skylight and plunges straight into a mattress pad, hovering in the air by magic.

The monster shakes itself in frustration and fires another array of tentacles her way. The slimy hooks lash out at nothing but air where the woman stood milliseconds before. Her body materializing right behind the creature as Carrie strikes her hand straight into the creatures back and releases her magical orb. Its flesh explodes. Inky black specks soar through the air spreading across the area. Carrie spits in disgust, her clothes covered in the horrid fluid.

The monster falls to the ground and struggles to remain standing. Carrie teleports to its front and stands over it with her green hands out. Its mangled body struggles to form new tissue as it stares up at its opponent with cold eyes.

Carrie releases her magic. *BOOM* the very cement under the creatures feet cracks as the monster is obliterated. Slices of meat fall to the floor, each sprouting tiny worm's desperately attempting to crawl away. A ring of purple magic burst from Carrie's body that rips apart any remnants left. It was the very same style of magic Dracula had once used against her.

Elof flew down and perched on her shoulder. Vampire, monster, whatever it was there was nothing left. Its regenerative capabilities were incredible and Carrie knew that she would have had difficulty were she unable to destroy so much at one time. Yumizuka was most fortunate she had bumped into her.

The gate screeched as the doors slid upwards. Moonlight flooded the room where Yumizuka patiently waiting inside, sitting on a ledge of boxes.

"It's over" Carrie said flatly.

Yumizuka looked up from her makeshift chair. "You're a mess" she said. Noticing the dark mud all over Carrie's clothes.

"Just an occupational hazard" Carrie said.

Yumizuka smiled and walked out of the trailer. The girl was eerily calm about the entire experience. It is then, as she walked by, that Carrie notices a small mark at the base of her neck. She grabs Yumi's wrist.

"Wait" Carrie says as she glances closely at the mark. It was a single scratch, unusual for the duel toothed vampires to leave behind. Yumizuka wrestles her hand and steps back.

"I got a mosquito bite a few days ago" she says. "How dare you look at me like that, after what I'd just seen!"

"I'm just being cautious. It doesn't look like a vampire bite, you should be fine." Carrie said.

"So _that_ was a vampire?" Yumizuka said.

"Probably" Carrie responded. "Whatever it was its gone now. You should go home, it's loooong past dark."

Yumizuka nodded and kept her head down. She reached her arm towards her neck but quickly put it down again when she saw concern on Carrie's face.

"Yeah. I think I'll go. Thanks for everything" Yumizuka said. She let out an awkward smile then raced away. As soon as she was out of sight she felt her fingers across the mark on her neck. It felt like a mosquito bite. There weren't any puncture wounds so far as she could tell. She sighed in relief and continued walking home. Unbeknownst to the black speck slithering across her uniform.

The creature was dead, but Carrie could still sense a powerful vampire aura radiating from the town. The monster she killed was weak but far from useless. She should have felt some kind of effect from its absence yet the dark aura felt completely unscathed. How many vampires were lurking in this town?


	10. Where One Story Ends Another Begins

**So reviews aren't showing up on this page for some reason. :(**

 **I've been busy with work and haven't been working on this as much as before. If I'm taking too long feel free to write a review or send me a PM. I don't want to leave a story hanging as so many people on here do.**

* * *

She felt it. The disturbing chill down her spin. Its darkness radiated throughout the dusky halls.

He was here.

In this school.

Somewhere.

The very fabric of time plummeted into a spiral of oblivion, dancing wildly around her without an origin. It was an ancient form of immortalization magic, the stench of which covered this place.

"You won't find what you're looking for, knight of the Seventh Scripture" spoke an old crackling voice.

Ciel gasped, instantly recognizing the dark spirit before her.

"The number of the beast is a human number. He can't have resurrected. Not yet anyway" said Nero, a powerful Dead Apostle. Ciel readied a key in her right hand but hesitated to attack the man head on. She didn't even know where he was.

"Perhaps we could strike a deal?" the voice echoed around her, "I'm not here to hurt you priestess."

"There isn't a place on this earth that you'll be safe from me vampire" Ciel said then softly muttered, "But you are right about one thing".

Ciel leapt from the building and raced towards the park. She needed to find Carrie, and quickly.

* * *

Julius made his way into the park just as the sun escaped over the horizon. He hoped the girls wouldn't be upset with his failure to find information on Roa, though he himself wasn't disappointed with the information he _did_ get. They were one step closer to finding Dracula.

He watched for hours as the crowds thinned and people left the park. The sky had grown incredibly dark and lights were few and far between the trees. The citizens stared at him from time to time though they tried to hide it. Julius stuck out like a sore thumb in this place. "Good thing I don't have a beard" he thought to himself.

It was late into the night when Carrie finally arrived. She walked steadily on the path with a hood concealing part of her face.

"Well it's about dang time!" Julius spouted. A small smile lit half of Carries face.

"Honestly Julius, I thought you'd have figured it out by now." Carrie said, taking a seat on the bench next to him.

Julius was puzzled. What was he supposed to have known? That she'd show up late? How was he supposed to know when they'd all decide to stroll back?

Not knowing what else to say he thought it best to assume as little as possible and keep his mouth shut.

"The cities crawling with vampires." Carrie said, as if it were a perfectly normal thing to say.

"Wh-what?" Julius asked.

"Dozens if not hundreds I'd reckon" Carrie said, she opened a small bag and started munching on a piece of melon bread.

"What sorta vampires are we talking about Carrie, Draculian? Dead Apostles? Over emotional Teenagers?"

"Not Dead Apostles, I guess ghoul would be the word I'd use. I ran into one earlier."

She was still beating around the bush. Had it become her mission to be as unclear as possible? Perhaps she was baiting him? No, he wasn't taking the bait. Enough with the childish games.

"Do you have a plan?" Julius asked.

"Well" Carrie responded, pausing to put away her snack. "If these are true ghouls then eliminating the energy at its source should free the entire city."

"What do you mean by that?" Julius said.

"Take out the Queen" Ciel said. Julius noticed her walking up to the bench. Her steps were soft; owl like. It's no wonder she got so close without him knowing. There was something unusual about her though. Her face was pale white, and her posture was incredibly straight. Ciel always seemed like she was carrying a great burden, though he rarely saw her so alert.

"Is something wrong Ciel?" Julius asked.

"We need to talk."

* * *

Olga Belnades sat in the audience chamber in Clocktower listening to the endless banter of Association representatives. She didn't care about the schools budget, or new regulations within the Disciplinary Committee. Daniel had been insistent that she attend the entire meeting, saying that "it was rude to come and go as you wish". How irritating.

Word from Julius came in last week. The girl was proving more and more ambiguous. Olga had originally identified her as a threat; a decision she was beginning to regret. Julius had her trust so she wasn't totally out of the game yet. At least the Ecclesians had scarcely identified the new location of Dracula's castle.

She had to stop herself from laughing out loud. Why was that funny? She messed up that was the truth, knowing that others were worse off than her wouldn't change that. It did make her feel better though.

"Perhaps such a thing is integral to human nature. To find joy in tormenting one another" she said to herself. Her thoughts strayed to Dracula.

"Case 14573, we have new word from Belnades concerning Dracula and the girl" spoke a mage towards the center of the room. Olga stood up.

"The girl is within the custody of Julius Belmont, a vampire hunter I'm sure you've all heard of. They've traveled to Japan in search of the Dark Lords Castle" she said.

"Japan!" shouted a female mage. "That's the other side of the continent! We are already aware of the castle's location in Eastern Europe."

"The girl spoke of an energy source from the Far East last she was here" spoke another magus. "Perhaps her intuition was correct."

"This is no more relevant than it was before" said Kayneth. "We are wasting time on a case that is doomed to lead nowhere."

"Are you not curious as to how an energy source could travel so far?" pleaded Olga. Kayneth was a typical magus. And like all of their kind he cared only for that which benefited himself. Fighting Dracula was an incredibly benevolent task, ergo one they wouldn't join under normal circumstances.

"Absolutely, if such a thing existed" Kayneth rebuked. "In the past few weeks we've seen no further evidence to the contrary. I presume you have some now Olga?"

"My team has only just arrived at the site. Such information would be impossible to know until the investigation has completed!" Olga responded.

"You are being harsher than usual Kayneth" a mage replied. "Maybe we should listen to her?"

"I _am_ listening to her. That's the problem" Kayneth said. "You said your team just arrived on site?"

"Yes" Olga nodded.

"Why such a delay? It's been weeks since we met the subject in person" a magus spoke.

"I apologize" Olga bowed as she spoke. "We ran into some difficulty containing the girl. The problem has been dealt with"

"You must understand Olga" spoke a man at the front of the room. "If such an energy line were as important as you say we would have known what we need to know by now."

"I advise we divert attention away from the ramblings of a delusional child" Kayneth said. "We have serious matters to attend to. Especially with the upcoming war."

Olga clenched her fists; that man had better be referring to Carrie. "Sir! I must object. Dracula's forces are stronger than we have ever recorded and."

"I think the council has head all that it will hear Olga. That's quite enough" said Daniel. His words strung like lightning. Olga stared at him in shock and sunk into her chair. The council was quick to move on to another irrelevant bureaucratic matter.

Olga folded her paperwork inside her suitcase and left the room. Screw attending the entire meeting and screw you _Daniel_.

She flipped him off on her way out the door. Though no one in the room seemed to notice.

* * *

Julius nodded quietly as Ciel and Carrie shared their experiences in Misaki town. As he understood it, three vampires (possibly four) were making movements within the town. Their next steps should be fairly standard as Ciel mentioned earlier but something was bothering him.

"Ciel, this vampire you encountered. You believe it's the one?" Julius asked.

Ciel stared him directly in the eyes as she said, "I do".

That was troubling news. He had already detoured from Dracula too long as it was, he couldn't afford an expedition for the Serpent of Akasha. Which meant only one thing and from the look in Ciel's eyes she knew it too.

"Well, we shouldn't waste any more time than" Julius mutters. He stands and rummages through his bag. Carrie begins to stand as well though Julius ushers her down.

"You might want to sit down for this Carrie" Julius says. He pulls a flat object from his bag wrapped in red cloth. Ciel eyes the object with surprise but doesn't say a word. "Things got off on the wrong foot before Carrie. But before I begin I need you to trust me…completely. I have no desire to hurt you." He unravels the object revealing the familiar mirror.

"Lilith's Mirror" Carrie says. "You've had it this entire time?"

"No, Olga asked to me to have it before I found you. We needed your memories to return and before…." Julius's voice trailed off. Carrie's personality pulled a 180 after she regained her memories and Olga had told him that her previous encounter would likely cause Carrie to fear the mirror.

"I'm not afraid Julius" Carrie said plainly. "I have nothing to hide from a Belmont."

"That's what worries me" Julius said. "Olga did a real number on you back there, you're not skeptical at all?"

"It's not a weapon Julius" Carrie said.

"That's not what I mean" Julius responded. He looked back at Ciel who merely stared back with empty eyes. "Alright then"

Julius holds the mirror in front of Carrie and scribes a small symbol on its back. A brilliant light bursts forth from the reflection engulfing her body. Behind the void Julius and Ciel make out the outline of a woman, bursting from it is a light even more spectacular than the sun radiating beyond even the light emitted by the mirror itself. Slowly, the image crystalizes and settles down into a representation of Carrie. A representation, because though the woman shows striking resemblance to the vampire hunter her manner is entirely different; like a twin. And she shows a smile larger than anything Julius had ever seen from the girl. She wore an emerald dress much too poufy to match Carrie's style.

Suddenly, the image dulls and shreds of fabric begin to fall from the maidens sleeves. A black beetle sprouts from under her fingernails, crawling all over her body leaving behind an inky fluid that sucks the light away from the illusion. The fluid spontaneously ignites in a green flame too bright for either Julius or Ciel to see.

When the light dims a more stoic and familiar Carrie stands before then nearly naked. Her body covered in glowing green tattoo like structures. It stares at them with bright glowing red eyes, which quickly shut and vanish. The mirror dulls and returns to normal.

Julius re-wraps the mirror and places it in his bag.

"Her origin is Inscription" Ciel says. "Such a thing hasn't been recorded in well over a thousand years."

"Ciel, didn't you notice that!" Julius says with sorrow in his voice.

"Don't even start with me Julius" Ciel says. "She at least had a choice."

Julius isn't surprised by Ciel's reaction though it angers him anyway. It was times like this that he truly hated being human, unlike the two comrades he had stumbled upon. Carrie had a truly radiant destiny ahead of her, an unbelievingly rare one indeed. Her reflection had glowed brighter than the mirrors power itself which was unheard of. "So this is what Olga saw when she used the mirror on you before" he said.

"I've had an inkling since I found myself Julius" Carrie said. Olga didn't get the whole story before.

"You stained your own soul!" Julius said. "Carrie that's…..that's quite serious." The idea of it chills him to the very bone. Only someone so kind, so destined for happiness could possibly sacrifice enough to attain this kind of power. She was dying even as he watched her now and she didn't have to be. Even now she could end it all if she wanted to. Her period of amnesia suddenly made a lot more sense.

"My God, what have you done?" Julius says, looking back and forth between Carrie and Ciel. "At least now I know why you two bonded so quickly."

"We are nothing alike" Carrie says.

"Yeah how about that" Julius said.

"None of this tells us anything we didn't already know" Ciel says. "You could have just asked"

" _Asking_ isn't enough to satisfy the Mages Association as you're well aware Ciel" Julius said. "This is proof she's on our side."

"And now that you have it we should keep moving" Ciel said. She walked away towards the parking lot.

"I understand now how you plan to destroy the Count for good" Julius says.

Carrie nods and leaps from her seat to run after Ciel. They quickly approach the gaudy green Lamborghini. Ciel opens the trunk of the car and expands her magically condensed luggage. Carrie gazes across the assortment of magical items as Ciel compacts most of them into a small pouch. Her eyes gaze upon a large chest resembling a guitar case. She motions towards the padlock but Ciel grabs the container before she reaches it.

"Best not to play with something like that" Ciel says, slinging the case around her shoulder.

"Have you had that this entire time?!" Julius shouts.

"Longer than I've known you" Ciel says.

"And you didn't think to mention it? After all the trouble we've been in!" Julius said.

"I'm saving Seven for a special occasion" Ciel said.

"I almost died!"

"Key word 'almost'. It takes a lot of mana to charge her up." Ciel said.

An eerie voice suddenly shouts. "I agree with Julius, what good is a tool if you never use it?"

Ciel, Carrie, and Julius all rush around the vehicle. Julius searches for the source of the voice, unsure if he should get in the car or prepare Vampire Killer.

A tall man suddenly appears sever meters ahead of them. He has short grey hair and a face that looks as if it had been brutally beaten yet failed to heal.

"JULIUS LOOK OUT!" Ciel shouts as Julius notices a large black spot appear under him. He leaps from the sinkhole as a gigantic boar suddenly rises from the dark. Before he can blink, dozens of similar pigs reform around the car. Carrie stands in the center of them.

Ciel throws a flaming black key towards the center of the horde.

"NO!" Carrie shouts, suddenly appearing on Julius's left side.

"What the" Julius says. Can the woman teleport? Ciel's flaming key sizzles then vanishes without further affect.

"You're lives are precious to you" Nero says. "Are you ready for that deal yet Ciel?"

"Are you ready to die?" Ciel spits.

"MuaHAHAHAHA" Nero laughs. "And I thought you were the rational one" Dozens of black animals suddenly spawn around him in a variety of sizes. Some as small as a raccoon, others bulky as a Grizzly Bear.

"All bark and no bite Nero" Ciel says. "You know those weapons are useless against me"

"We all have a few tricks up our sleeves" Nero says, his trench coat pulsating with living things.

"Nero?" Julius says. "As in six hundred and sixty six?"

All the animals suddenly attack.

Julius sidesteps the lunges of two hyenas and stabs each one in the throat. They instantly dissolve in smoke but are quickly accompanied by more. He smashes a jar of Holy though the beasts run though unaffected. Carrie suddenly appears before him and blasts two incoming leopards with each hand. Julius whirls around to swing his whip at the incoming swarm of pigs yet is thrown to the ground in the panic.

* * *

A pair of wild dogs rush around Carrie. Were they trying to confuse her? How daft could this Nero fella be?

The first dog lunges and is caught in the teeth by one of Carrie's rings. It explodes on impact instantly disintegrating the apparition. The second dog dives for her leg but is kicked aside and blasted in the stomach with emerald light.

A swarm of other beasts close in on her position. She flings a circle of dark energy around her which scares the bulk of them off. Carrie checks her surroundings. Ciel was on a lamp post throwing explosive keys at the horde from a distance. Julius was engaged in hand to hand combat as his magic didn't seem to be working. "You're meant to combat vampires Julius, not mundane beasts." She instantly teleports in front of him (another trick she learned from Dracula) and destroys two oncoming leopards. She runs forward assuming Julius to be right behind her. "A terrible presumption" she thinks as a scream bellows behind her.

Carrie spins around and uses both of her hands to levitate Julius above the oncoming boar. Black keys rain down from the sky between her and the pigs, exploding in fire. She throws Julius towards her.

"I can't do this forever!" Carrie yells.

"I know!" Julius nods and turns to face Nero.

* * *

When the animals attacked Ciel instantly threw herself into the air. Most of Nero's creatures were grounded as she expected. She threw several keys into the crowd, dissolving an entire pack of wolves. A bull moose charged at the lamp post she was standing on forcing her to leap to the next one. Wave after wave she threw her keys after the swarm which had accumulated to a giant dark mass beneath her. She hadn't a place to land if she wanted to.

There was another problem. Julius was completely unfit for this type of combat and Carrie was struggling to compensate for them both. The swarm would overwhelm the two of them in seconds. Ciel leapt passively from post to post as each was torn apart underneath her. She was getting farther away from her teammates, but the extra time should enable her to store enough mana to clear a path. That's when a thorned feather suddenly whizzed past her head, slicing an inch of hair off her bangs. A flock of rapturous birds was ganging on her. "So much for the air supremacy"

Ciel threw a few keys towards the aerial foes and leapt into a tree for extra cover. In the distance she could see a swarm of pigs quickly closing in on Carrie and Julius. "Damn I'm out of time" Ciel screeched as she dived high into the air above and threw a wave of enflamed keys towards the pack. A thorned feather tore through her left leg as she prepared to land. The pain was manageable but her foot failed to respond in time to catch the next branch causing her to lose balance.

She fell to the ground as the horde quickly closed in. Carrie and Julius were staring directly at Nero. "Don't do it you idiots" Ciel thought to herself. She leapt back into the air and prepared her keys.

* * *

"I'll keep as many of them off you as I can. Go straight for his heart, ignore anything else." Carrie says. She slashes at a pair of oncoming deer.

"My magic doesn't work on these things, it's like they aren't even mythical" Julius said.

"Don't worry about them. Just focus on Nero." Carrie said. "Where are you Ciel?" she thinks to herself. She scans the area until she sees the small blue haired figure on the complete opposite side of the park.

"Alright we move on three" Carrie says. "1….2….3!" Just as Carrie takes her first step forward she is thrown to the ground by an explosion.

A piercing ring gongs in her ears. Her eyes fight to work again. What the hell was Ciel thinking? She feels a tug to her right arm and makes out Julius's figure as he pulls her across the grass. She throws magical energy blindly into the crowd, praying that Julius knows what he's doing. She is suddenly tossed aside and lands on an oddly comfortable squishy surface. Her body is jerked against a hard leather back. Not by Julius but by some physical force. Her ears slowly return to her as she hears a loud roaring all around her.

* * *

Ciel looks graciously upon the Lamborghini as Julius races away. "I always hated that car" she says, turning back towards Nero.

"How admirable. You sacrificed yourself to save your friends" Nero said.

"It was inevitable" Ciel says, and readies her blades in each hand.

"You think you can fight them alone?" Nero said, amused. Ciel answered him with a blade embedded deep in his forehead. Nero erupted in laughter.

Hordes of beasts lunged inwards all at once. Ciel ducked under an oncoming pack of elk and slashed their bellies to pieces. A swarm of komodo dragons slithered underneath her which she leapt over and ignited into a field of fire. A pack of a hounds rushing her legs where ripped to shreds. A swarm of goats ramming towards her side where chopped in half.

The creatures kept coming, and Ciel kept _killing_.

"You won't use it? Not even now?" Nero said.

"HA! I've died a thousand ways worse than you could possibly imagine! You're not worthy of such a death" Ciel spat.

"Then die"

Ciel leapt over the crowd and landed directly in front of the demon. An enormous shark dived out form his trench coat that Ciel sidestepped. It soared through the air briefly before landing on the hard ground. It wiggled around in an effort to attack again but couldn't move more than a few inches at a time. What a useless creature to summon.

CIel swung towards his arm and was deflected by a swordfish. She feigned a recoil and struck again, this time at his left, and sliced his leg straight to the bone. As the man fell she stepped around him and cut his arm clean off from the other side. The appendage wiggled about the ground for a split second before Ciel crushed it under her boot. Before she could stab him again a grizzly bear tossed her aside from her flank.

The horde swarmed to her location and leapt above her. "FIRAGA!" Ciel screamed and their bodies burst apart. She charged through the masses with swords of fire until she came face to face with the demon himself. But he had already healed his injuries.

She couldn't lose. Survival was inevitable. Nero appeared panicked. He was trying to step away. Victory was hers.

Ciel leapt into the air, threw an array of keys around the animals protecting him, and jumped straight onto of the man's shoulders. As he tried to throw her off Ciel sliced both his hands apart and back flipped onto the ground. She stabbed a buffalo and sent its carcass flying straight into him. As Nero tried to recover, Ciel lunged onto him, sliced off his head, and plunged a blade deep in his heart.

His head softly laughed from a few feet away.

"WHAT!" Ciel gasped as her body was drawn into Nero's. Pain instantly exploded upon her entire body. He was eating her, chewing upon her every limb at once. Everything was black or could she see nothing? Everything was silent or could she hear nothing? No, she could hear a crunch and scrapes as the animals feasted upon her bones. Survival was inevitable. It would never stop.

And then suddenly it did.

Ciel gasped for air as she looked up at the stars from the empty park. How she escaped she had no idea, though it didn't matter. The hunt would go on.

* * *

"How do you know where you're going?" Carrie asked Julius. They had been driving for well over an hour now. The streets were quiet this time of night though the toll roads had grown annoying. They were fortunate as to leave the vehicle unscathed. Ciel had good aim, Carrie could have done without the near contusion though.

"While you and Ciel were searching the town I scoped one of the locals for information on Dracula. There's a mage in this city who's supposed to be really good with seals" Julius said.

"And you think they can detect Dracula's energy better than I can?" Carrie said.

"No, I think they'll have an idea of why Dracula's forces would come all the way to this island" Julius said. "Somethings special's got to be here."

They drive past a sign welcoming them to Fuyuki City.

* * *

"It's been a lifetime since I last wore a uniform like this" Ciel thought as she walked towards the school. She wore a bright yellow shirt and a new pair of spectacles. A school bag around her shoulder held all her books, supplies, and combat equipment. (Hidden away from prying eyes of course) Through the rims of her glasses she saw a lot of similar students walking the same route in boring white attire. She was fortunate the high school staff were lenient in regards to the dress code, not that she couldn't change their minds if need be.

Carrie and Julius came to mind. It had only been a month or so since she said a silent goodbye. Thinking about past companions was highly unusual for her as she'd had so many in the past. Never did she think she'd ever live anything close to a real life again. Carrie was different. She had seen glimpses of personality in the amnesia girl, but it all washed away the moment she emerged from that tree. That was the face of a woman who had truly lost everything and in that face she had realized something.

Carrie and Ciel were not alike at all.

Ciel adjusted her glasses and turned inside the school gate. Perhaps it will be fun to play normal for a while.

She notices a shrubbery mangled on the side of the entranceway. "There must be someone on staff who can fixed that" she thought as she entered the school. It was just past seven, giving her over an hour to search for Roa.

But did it have to be this morning? She gazed back at the broken fence posts.

Certainly there were tools in the facility somewhere.


	11. Do you Believe In Destiny?

_Carrie shuffled through a pile of old books on her bed. She had been living in Dracula's castle for six months as his 'bride to be'._

 _These books all came from the secret library hidden above the main reading chamber. Dracula probably didn't know she could find it as she had discovered the chamber during her initial quest through the castle. A gigantic planetarium lay above the secret passageway though she dared not enter there. The castle had frequent visitors from conspirators seeking to join Dracula's ranks. The Necromancers in particular, enjoyed studying in that starry place._

 _But though these books were important enough to seal away, she had still not discovered the true object of her desires. The book that held the key to Dracula's powers. She overheard one of the Necromancers speaking of it over dinner last week so it had to be hidden in this castle somewhere._

 _Her eyes laid upon a collection of novels written during the time of Vlad the Impaler. They were printed as fiction though there was obviously more to them than that._

" _Across the western seas I found a network dedicated to this very art. They were a secretive crowd and cautious about speaking with an outsider such as myself. They rarely intervened in worldly affairs no matter what cruel fates befallen their brethren. They cared not for God nor country. This very negligence may have ironically allowed them to prosper so. The lands of Transylvania are so often under attack that our thaumaturgy could never progress beyond the most rudimentary elemental transformations._

 _It was here among these people that I first heard mention of the Grimoire that bridged life and death. A book bound in human skin; written in blood. To possess such a book, much less read, would be unbearable if not for the ones I loved. This was why the organization had no interest in such an artifact as dark as thee._

 _I had heard tales of their kingdom before the fall. How the knights fought and fell before their own brothers. And how the skies darkened when the King of light fell to his knees. Any of the wizards here who cared for such a man certainly died along with his kingdom. How foolish of them to allow such mighty winds to cease. The devastating power of that weapon forever lost by the death of the sole man fit to wield it. If only I held but a fraction of that power._

 _Or perhaps it's me, who is the foolish one."_

 _Her reading was interrupted by a knock on the door._

 _Carrie quickly shuffled all the books under her mattress and sat upon the bed. "Come in" she called._

 _A boney white hand opened the door and in walked her would be fiancé. Carrie swung her feet off the end of the bed, humming a simple toon. Many of the ghosts here were accustomed to walking through closed doors. A terribly rude habit that Carrie couldn't stand during her first few weeks. After much debate she had finally convinced the Dark Lord to knock before entering. She spouted some bullshit excuse about 'feminine privacy' or something like that. Regardless, she would have been caught red-handed by now if it weren't for the brief stall._

" _You've been quiet lately my dear" Dracula said._

" _I haven't had much to do since you sent Death away on that mission" Carrie said. She had been sparring with the demon unimpressive as his skills were. He'd never succeeded in defeating a Belmont in combat before, not even Reinhardt._

" _There are plenty of generals here to practice with. If only you weren't so stubborn" Dracula said. He paced around the room glancing over her various belongings._

" _Perhaps if you would allow me to join the ranks I wouldn't be so" Carrie said. She carefully positioned her bottom over the books in her bed._

" _As it so happens I do have a task for you" Dracula said. He came to a halt right in front of Carrie and commanded "Move"._

 _Carrie leapt back into her bed as the Dark Lord knelt to look underneath. So long as he didn't raise the mattress….._

" _Your refusal to adopt the vampiric curse may have some use. There's a crowd gathering at the monastery southwest of here. The fake one of course." Dracula said as he returned to his feet._

" _I'll head out tomorrow morning" Carrie said. She knew of the Dark Lords plans to intercept Actriss already. This monastery was likely connected to that. And he was right, she_ was _the only one who could venture to such a place._

* * *

Julius's eyes snapped open. The hotel room was pitch black though he could see the faint glow of the alarm clock across the room. was unusual for him to wake at such a late hour. Or was it early?

He stood out of bed and clicked on the lamp. Carrie's bed was empty. "Where have you run off to now?" Julius thought. They had an appointment with the Tohsakas in the morning, which didn't give him much more time to sleep.

Julius shuffled out of his pajamas and slipped on his trench coat. The halls were cold even for a hotel. Fuyuki wasn't exactly a tourist town so most of the other rooms were likely empty. Still, he took caution as he slowly closed to door in effort to remain quiet. Carrie wouldn't wander off on her own without her equipment and their only lead wasn't the night owl type. She couldn't have gone far. He entered the nearest elevator and took it to the top floor. Just beyond the balcony outside he found the woman with blue hair leaning on the railing.

"First amnesia now insomnia huh?" Julius asked.

"I had a bad dream" Carrie said, turning away from him.

"That's a lie" Julius said. "I know you better than that"

"Humph" Carrie pouted. She stepped away from the balcony and sat at the base of a wall behind her. "The stars really look the same, no matter where you are."

"Aye, stars are stars" Julius said. What was she stating the obvious now?

Carrie laughed at that comment. "You don't think much about the sorta things I do Julius. It's probably better that way" she said.

Julius sat down beside her and said, "I'm not going to pretend I don't get nightmares. No one's that strong, especially knowing the things we do."

"It's incredible really. How many people out there might not wake up tomorrow" Carrie said.

"It's always riddles with you. If you're trying to say something say it" Julius said.

Carrie looked at him and replied, "I'm scared Julius. I'm absolutely terrified." She walked away before Julius could respond. He remained on the balcony for a few more minutes then returned to find Carrie asleep.

* * *

"Correct me if I'm wrong, but you're seeking information on Dracula?!" said Tokiomi Tohsaka, the head of the Tohsaka family. He had agreed to speak with them in his tea room but was thus far very unimpressive. "And you came to me? At this time?" he continued with a puzzled expression.

"You're knowledge of magical seals was recommended to us by a very reliable source" Julius said.

"I'm not here to give lessons on magic for free. Especially not to someone as shady as you two" Tokiomi said.

"We aren't expecting you to have knowledge on Dracula specifically" Carrie said. "Merely knowledge of the Key Lines running through this area."

Tokiomi sunk back in his chair and examined the travelers once more. "You really are clueless. Or would it be more polite to call you ignorant?"

"Ignorant of what?" Julius asked. He was growing annoyed with the obscure conversations mages loved to dabble in. There was obviously something else going on and the man didn't need to rub it in.

A brilliant blue light erupted form Tokiomi's hands and colorful sparkles of blue dust shifted between his fingertips. "This" Tokiomi explained "Is a false lay line."

Carrie stared at the projection in wonder. It wasn't completely different form the spectacles she could sense. But this was a different sort as the magic was molded rather than raw. Based on Tokiomi's expression she doubted he himself knew the difference.

"Currents such as this flow between everything we can observe in the universe. A mage is one who is skilled in altering that path into something useable for their own purposes" Tokiomi said. "But though this form of magic can be stored it cannot be moved from any place it does not already exist."

"You can't create something from nothing" Carrie said.

"Exactly! This is why a mage is limited in their supply of mana" Tokiomi said. "But imagine if one could harness all the energy of a universe or gather energy from a dimension other than our own."

The light vanished and the room returned to its normal state.

"You could tap into a near inexhaustible source of mana" Tokiomi finished. "Perhaps that is what your Count sought to do."

"If what you say is true, than he's already accomplished that" Julius said. "His castle has appeared stronger than ever before and with a Japanese energy source spreading halfway around the world."

"That would be quiet impressive" Tokiomi said. A hinge creaked causing Tokiomi to stand from his chair. A small child with brown pigtails and blue eyes stood in the doorway.

"You will have to excuse my daughter, she's curious as the smart ones are" Tokiomi said. He motioned for the door as though he expected Carrie and Julius to leave.

"Mr. Tohsaka, let's say such a concept were possible, would you know how to access that unlimited mana?" Carrie said. A smile spread across the old man's face.

"I personally, do not" he said. "But there is a family that would. I must warn you though. They aren't welcome to visitors."

He draws a map form the cupboard and points to a forest just outside of town.

"Anyone who enters those woods is destined to become lost. That is where your objective lies. If there is to be any hope in reaching that place I must ask you this: Do you believe in Fate?"

* * *

 **Thus concludes the Tsukihime/Castlevania Crossover.**

 **Continue reading about Julius and Carrie's adventures in the next installment:**

 **Fate Of Sorrow**

 **(If you have trouble finding it visit my page)**


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